Funeral held for Sapper Smith

The widow of a combat engineer killed in Afghanistan has described her husband as a
"larrikin with a wicked sense of humour" on the eve of his military funeral.
Mourners will gather in Brisbane on Saturday to farewell Sapper Darren Smith, 26,
who died in a bomb blast that also killed Sapper Jacob Moerland, 21, and Sapper
Smith's bomb detector dog Herbie.
"Tomorrow we'll farewell Darren with a celebration of his life," widow Angela Smith
said in a statement on Friday.
"We'll remember all the Darrens we knew. The devoted father of Mason, my loving
husband, a son who made his family proud, a dedicated and very professional soldier,
a great mate, and a larrikin with a wicked sense of humour and mischief."
She said her husband had a genuine connection with the dogs he cared for, taught and
worked with.
"He had developed strong ideas on training, and also the welfare of the explosive
detection dogs," she said.
"We often talked about his ideas and what he would like to have seen done to improve
training and conditions, and I'm going to work as best I can to make sure Darren's
dreams come true."
She said the days since her husband's death on June 7 had been an incredible ordeal.
"A big thank you to all our friends who have rallied around and supported us, to
members of the community who felt Darren's loss and our pain," she said.
"Our future will now be very different, and it won't be easy."
The funeral will be held in the chapel of Marist Brothers College at Ashgrove on
Saturday at 11am (AEST).



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