Ted Smout - WWI veteran against war

On 22 June 2004, Australia lost one of its few living links to the horrors of the Western Front when Ted Smout died in Brisbane, aged 106.

This is an excerpt from The 7.30 Report, ABC-TV, 23/6/2004. The reporter was Jonathan King:

Ted Smout's legacy is in the hundreds of newspaper articles written about him, the book he wrote Across Three Centuries, hours and hours of video footage instructing Australians not to get involved in conflicts like Iraq or Afghanistan.

His main message always was we should not glorify war.

It was a mistake to fight in a far flung battle that had nothing to do with Australia and he pleaded with the nation never to do it again.

So, great warrior, great fighter, but (also) a philosopher and a pacifist.

(Text in brackets added by me.  Ed.)