By CASEY NEILL
THE World War I uniform in the Dandenong RSL foyer it more than just clothing.
It belonged to Corporal Victor Royston Smith, an 18-year-old labourer from Maldon, Victoria, who enlisted on 21 January 1915.
He embarked from Sydney on board HMAT A40 Ceramic with the 4th Light Horse Regiment on 25 June 1915.
Dandenong Cranbourne RSL sub-branch president John Wells said Corporal Smith, then a private, landed at Gallipoli 1 October 1915.
He faced a court of inquiry on 23 October 1917 over injuries he sustained on 2 October.
Corporal Smith was admitted to 43rd Stationary Hospital, Egypt, with a fractured tibia and fibula.
Evidence cleared him of any carelessness. Witnesses reported watching him trying to free a horse which had its foreleg entangled in its neck rope.
The horse threw itself and fell on Corporal Smith, breaking his leg.
He returned to Australia on 2 August 1919.
Relative William and Marjorie Smith from Berwick found his uniform in a trunk during a clean-up and thought it too good to throw away.
They first offered it to Legacy, which suggested taking it to an RSL.
“Of course we jumped at it,” Mr Wells said.
“It cost a lot but it’ll be there in another 100 years.
“Hopefully little kids will come in and say ‘why’s that there?’ and think about it.”
He encouraged anyone with memorabilia to consider their local RSL.
“No one who’s alive today owns this stuff,” he said.
“It belongs to the country.”
