Canada, CEF. A British War Medal to Pte. Smuck, RAMC, KIA on the Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle, Torpedoed by U-86 on June 28, 1918

A British War Medal, in silver, rim impressed 03676 PTE.D.R. SMUCK. C.A.M.C., dark patina, minor wear, extremely fine. 

Footnote: David Radcliffe Smuck was born on May 18, 1893 in Sarnia, Ontario. He enlisted on June 28, 1915. He served with the Canadian Army Medical Corp aboard the Hospital Ship Llandovery Castle.

The hospital ship Llandovery Castle served as a Canadian medical transport during the First World War, making repeated voyages to bring wounded soldiers from Europe to safety. On the night of 27 June 1918, while clearly marked and illuminated as a protected hospital ship, she was torpedoed south of Ireland by the German submarine U-86. The attack, followed by the deliberate machine-gunning of lifeboats, resulted in the deaths of 234 people, including all 14 Canadian Nursing Sisters on board. The sinking became one of the war’s most notorious violations of international law and was later cited in war-crimes proceedings against the submarine’s commander and crew.

The circumstances of Smuck’s death, states “ killed in action - lost at sea on Llandovery Castle.” He is commemorated on the Halifax Memorial 

The captain of U-86, Helmut Patzig, who ordered the torpedoing and the machine-gunning of survivors from the Llandovery Castle, escaped trial by fleeing to Danzig and was never punished. Two junior officers, Ludwig Dithmar and Johann Boldt, were tried in Leipzig in 1921 and sentenced to four years, but both avoided serving time and later had their sentences annulled. The crewmen were not prosecuted, and ultimately no one was meaningfully held accountable for the attack