Prewar Life

Deployed Overseas

Taking Oran, Algeria

Battle at Kasserine Pass

Losing an Ammunition Truck

Becoming a Forward Observer

Invading Sicily

Getting Supplies in France

Combat in Sicily and the Bulge

Deployed to England

Preparing for D-day

Landing at Normandy

On Omaha Beach

Moving the Front Lines

Learning to Fly

Reflections

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William C. Smith, Junior was born in Hartford, Connecticut in August 1917. His father was supporting three families during the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. His father had been a professional magician. Smith put on magic shows so he could earn money. He had a grandfather that had a farm, and his other grandfather was a developer in Long Island [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York]. He learned how to drive a Model T [Annotator's Note: Ford Model T automobile] in his grandfather's orchard. His uncle was a commercial fisherman and Smith would be his cabin boy during the summer. His father knew war was coming and told him to go in the service as an officer. Smith went to Ohio State University [Annotator's Note: in Columbus, Ohio] and signed up for the advanced military studies. He graduated in 1939 and received his commission and his BA [Annotator's Note: Bachelor of Arts degree]. He started an insurance company after graduating. He went to boot camp, and then he was in reserves on call. He had been married for about a year when he was called up. He was then gone for almost four years.

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William C. Smith, Junior boarded the Queen Mary [Annotator's Note: RMS Queen Mary] in August [Annotator's Note: August 1942 as a member of the 1st Infantry Division]. His job was to get the troops settled on the boat. Additional training was a necessity because things happened so fast. He went in as a company officer. When he got a specialization, he was put in charge of ammunition and how it would be stored and handled. His first job overseas was getting the ammunition unloaded. They landed in Scotland. There they had to get ready to go to a battle position. In college, he trained with a 105 [Annotator's Note: M2A1 105mm howitzer; standard light field howitzer]. They had forward position training three times. Smith had to calculate how much ammunition could go into each truck. He almost got into trouble in North Africa. They took one of his friends and made him a rocket man. The British were there to back them up. If they got too close the man would fire one rocket, as he moved inland, he would fire two rockets. If the enemy fire got hot, he would fire a red rocket. At this time they did not have experience invading. He got his guns unloaded and sent out to the men. There was one officer that reported back they needed ammunition. Smith loaded a truck with ammunition and prepared to take it to the men who needed it. Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling – his driver] came over and said he was going to drive. Smith and Sampson made it to their destination. The truck had two bullet holes in it.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: with the 1st Infantry Division] and his unit were fighting the Germans in Egypt to keep them from getting the canal [Annotator's Note: the Suez Canal]. There was a forward observer that was very good at his job and taught Smith some things before he himself became a forward observer. The man spotted a French battery that started firing at them. They were trying to get to Oran [Annotator's Note: Oran, Algeria] because it was a good port. They took Oran within a couple of days. Smith bought his first smoking pipe there. He ran out of chewing gum during the invasion. He figured he could chew on the end of a pipe, and it would give him the same relaxation as the chewing gum did. The pipe went through a lot with him. Smith thought he could swap his cigarettes for pipe tobacco so he could taste it. His men thought if he still had his pipe in his mouth that he was not worried about the situation they were in. They set up wires and they were told if anyone stole the wire to shoot them. They had one real good firefight with the Germans in Oran. They were supposed to keep Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel] from getting to the canal. At first, it was just the British holding him off. He did not have any real issues until the Americans arrived. He now had forces that could cut him off from behind. Smith and his men were going down a narrow road to the beach. The line stopped as they were going up the steep narrow road. Smith was with their colonel because he had to be able to call for fire. There was a sergeant sitting in a truck that the engine had frozen up in. The colonel said they would unload the truck and roll it into the ditch. The Germans had the upper hand with the air capabilities.

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Rommel [Annotator's Note: German Army Generalfeldmarschall, or Field Marshal, Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel] was sending supplies up and down the coast [Annotator's Note: of North Africa]. William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: with the 1st Infantry Division] was moving wherever he was needed. One of the commanders was tired of seeing truck lights at night. Smith was told to put a gun on one of the trucks, load it with ammunition, and take it up on one of the hills. At night with the first sight of the truck's lights, they were told to fire. The Germans did not know where the fire was coming from and then they stopped running with their lights on. Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling – his driver] and Smith drove the colonel and another commander through the sand dunes. Sampson said where he thought they were, but the colonel showed on a map where he thought they should be. Smith pulled out the map and looked at the coordinates and told them to fire. Rommel started to pull away from the British and they were pushing him along with the Americans. They were pushing him to the end of the mountain passes. He hit them at the Kasserine Pass [Annotator's Note: Battle of Kasserine Pass in Kasserine, Tunisia, 19 to 24 February 1943]. Smith's officers were told to let the tanks come through but stop the infantry. Kasserine was toward Egypt. Smith could see them before they got past the first mountain. One of the batteries [Annotator's Note: artillery batteries] had to go in as an infantry battalion. The Germans started pulling back because they were losing their tanks. They did not have a supply route that was good, and they were not manufacturing tanks as quickly as the Americans were.

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The Germans were retreating [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Kasserine, Tunisia, 19 to 24 February 1943]. William C. Smith, Junior's unit [Annotator's Note: in the 1st Infantry Division] was badly beaten up but they were holding the Germans off. Smith had a truck shot out from under him. Smith had a private driving the truck full of ammunition. A German 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] started firing at them and the private stopped the truck, got out and ran. Smith got out of the truck and went around the back to avoid the machine gunfire. The engine got hit and blew up. Smith made it back and told maintenance what had happened. They picked it up the next day. He had another experience like this in Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy]. He was on a mountain, and he was called on because the infantry had someone shooting at them. They could not tell where it was coming from. Smith climbed up the side of the mountain to check it out. Smith called back and told them where he wanted guns to be set up.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: with the 1st Infantry Division] was in charge of a truck and the ammunition, but he did not like just standing around [Annotator's Note: during the Battle of Kasserine Pass in Kasserine, Tunisia, 19 to 24 February 1943]. Smith asked the forward observer if he could give it a try because it seemed like it was the same as hunting ducks. The forward observer told him they only had 30 hours of expected life [Annotator's Note: life expectancy in combat], but that did not bother Smith at all. When he went back, he asked if he could have the job as forward observer. After that, he started going out with the battery. Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling – his driver] and Smith had gone 70 hours into the trail before he was able to get some rest. The new forward observer went into a ditch because he was getting shot at and Smith had to go up the line and take over.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] was in the Battle of Tunisia [Annotator's Note: Tunisian Campaign, 17 November 1942 to 13 May 1943]. The Germans had some men that were raised in America. They captured American uniforms and were messing with the supply chain. Smith knew something was wrong when he saw German tanks stopping in the valley. Smith got his BAR [Annotator's Note: M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle; also known as the BAR] ready. They were afraid to fire because they might hit their own oil tanks and cause a fire. This was the closest Smith had come to being captured. One man was captured three times in one day. Once Tunisia fell, they concentrated on getting Sicily [Annotator's Note: Sicily, Italy]. They had to drive through a road that was covered in mines [Annotator's Note: stationary explosive device triggered by physical contact] while they were pushing the Germans. They knew there would have to be an invasion immediately when they got into Sicily to prevent the Germans from getting more equipment from northern Italy. They had to check every piece of equipment. They loaded up within four days. They decided to land on a hill in Sicily [Annotator's Note: Operation Husky, 9 July to 17 August 1943, Sicily, Italy]. The forward observer went ahead and had to dig in. They were on the LCIs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Infantry] and LCTs [Annotator's Note: Landing Craft, Tanks] when a bad storm hit. Smith knew the men were going to be seasick. As soon as they got to shore all the men got off the boats as quickly as they could. Smith started giving coordinates to fire on the German trucks. Smith was giving coordinates and the guns were not firing. The ground was rock, and the guns were rolling. The infantry got orders to move to the edge of the woods and the ground was better there for the guns. Unfortunately, this allowed the Germans to get into a better position.

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The Germans pulled back because they did not know how strong the Americans were [Annotator's Note: during Operation Husky, 9 July to 17 August 1943 in Sicily, Italy]. This gave William C. Smith, Junior and his outfit [Annotator's Note: the 1st Infantry Division] the chance to pull all the vehicles up onto the platform. The Germans had a pair of 88s [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] in the trees, but their equipment was not ready so they could not shoot them. When Smith was in the hedgerow [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] country [Annotator's Note: later in France] he lost five tanks. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] and the British commander did not get along. Patton was upset because he did not have all the supplies he needed. All the oil at one refinery was supposed to go to the British and Patton was not going to get any. Patton said they would fill his two trucks, or they could build a new refinery. Patton got his oil after that.

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William C. Smith, Junior's [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] driver, Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling – his driver] was a big and tall guy. He always had to dig a big foxhole that was twice the size of Smith's. Patton [Annotator's Note: US Army Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Jr.] got his tanks up to the Battle of the Bulge [Annotator's Note: Battle of the Bulge or German Ardennes Counter-Offensive, 16 December 1944 to 25 January 1945] in the middle of the winter. They were closing up the gap. Smith and Sampson had to go up the side of a mountain. When they got about halfway up, they met quite a bit of resistance. They were using the tanks because their guns [Annotator's Note: artillery guns] were scattered. They climbed up the mountain three times. Patton beat the English in getting up there. At the end of the Battle of Sicily [Annotator's Note: during Operation Husky, 9 July to 17 August 1943 in Sicily, Italy], Smith went into a small town and the people there were not very friendly.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] prepared for the French invasion [Annotator's Note: D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He had good luck as a forward observer. His driver, Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], was still with him [Annotator's Note: after battling together through North Africa and Italy]. Smith was changed from a forward observer to a liaison officer. He was now above the forward observers and was in direct contact with majors and generals. He had to assimilate all the duties of being on the front. He had to disassociate himself with the 1st Infantry Division. He was being shipped to England where he would get new orders. He wanted to take Sampson with him, but he knew that would be a no. When Smith got to England, he was told to report to his new duties immediately. When he got to the headquarters, there were only majors and above in the room. The Navy and the Army had set up a radio to communicate with each other to have guns on targets. Smith did not know how to fire a battleship. When he reached his destination, he was in a room full of maps. They started training immediately. They had to practice landings. There would be five men to a landing. He saw Omaha Beach [Annotator's Note; Omaha Beach, Normandy, France] and knew he would be there.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: with the 1st Infantry Division] looked at a close-up of the barbed wire [Annotator's Note: while preparing for D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. There were approximately 20 inches between. The French were sending the espionage [Annotator's Note: spy] pictures to them. There were only 10 radios and they had to take care of them because it was the only connection between the beach and the ships. Smith memorized his maps and where he needed to go. All of the men in the group were English speaking. Smith did not want to have flashbacks.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] was loading the ships [Annotator's Note: on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He was told he would be going ashore with the first platoon of the 29th Infantry [Annotator's Note: 29th Infantry Division]. They started across the Channel [Annotator's Note: English Channel]. Someone came up with 10 percent of the first wave would be taken out on the way to shore, and of the 10 percent, five percent would be wounded and not able to sustain a battle. Smith could not talk about this until after Nam [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975] because MacArthur [Annotator's Note: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander, Southwest Pacific Area] was jumping through hoops still. The weather was rough, and the little raft bounced all over. Smith had his radio, gas mask, his 45 [Annotator's Note: .45 caliber M1911 semi-automatic pistol], and only 16 shells. As the raft neared the shore [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach, Normandy, France] it scraped on the sand. Smith had to go parallel to the way the boat was facing. Once he was in the water and the raft moved out, he knew he was all alone. He knew he had to keep his wire straight. He had to be in the right gap between the French fire ditch and the bombs. He had to find the three posts with the wire wrapped around them. He got to the anti-tank wall. He knew he was going directly to the shore.

Annotation

William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] was looking for a pile of stuff on the shore [Annotator's Note: at Omaha Beach on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He knew he had to be careful because there were booby traps [Annotator's Note: an apparently harmless object containing a concealed explosive device designed to kill or injure anyone who touches it] on the other side of the pile. He had to get on his hands and knees to find the rock he was looking for. Once he was secure hiding by the rock, he took a long drag on his pipe. He had a list of fire points he could see from his position. The British Air Force was supposed to bomb the beach before the troops landed. When daylight came there was no bombing, and he knew he had to get on the radio because troops were coming. He got on the radio and gave the fire mission coordinates. After the shells went off, he was able to find his first target. He had not had anything to eat for about 20 hours at this point. When they saw an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] they were able to take the target out.

Annotation

William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: a forward observer with the 1st Infantry Division] was on the beach [Annotator's Note: Omaha Beach on D-Day; the Allied invasion of Normandy, France on 6 June 1944]. He had the guns, and he was the only one on a fire mission that was reaching the battleships [Annotator's Note: by radio]. He followed the front line. He started having them fire on a house that had an 88 [Annotator's Note: German 88mm multi-purpose artillery] in it. The infantry had anti-tank weapons. They went into a valley where all the German tanks were stationed to fight. They made it up there with the power of the battleships and the radio that worked. Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling], his driver, went in front of the front lines, and then he went on to find Smith. In 100 days they were in Aachen [Annotator's Note: Aachen, Germany]. The whole time Smith was on the ground he was on the move. He did not want to get attached to the other guys who were on the fire missions. The Germans had fortified the fields and they lost 15 percent of their officers and 10 percent of their enlisted men while trying to take a hedgerow [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation]. They lost thousands of men during the invasion.

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William C. Smith, Junior [Annotator's Note: with the 1st Infantry Division] was asked if he knew how to fly an airplane. He did not. Sampson [Annotator's Note: phonetic spelling – his driver] was driving them. Smith was shown an empty field with a barn and told it was his airfield. The plane he was supposed to fly was a Grasshopper [Annotator's Note: Taylorcraft L-2 Grasshopper observation and liaison aircraft]. It was paper mâché and if they put their finger on it too hard it would poke a hole in it. The plane was small, and he had to fly over the hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation] and look down at them. They flew at 100 feet in the air. Smith learned to fly. He had to wear a parachute. They went to check out a hedgerow. Their guns were on the ground. They saw a gun come out and knew they had to turn around. It was a machine gun strapped on a tractor. Smith called for fire in the area. Smith flew 14 days in the little plane. He had to learn to land it. On one mission he saw tanks near the bridge that was their target. A pistol could knock his plane out of the air. He flew several recon missions.

Annotation

The war did not change William C. Smith, Junior very much. He did not have a good education growing up. He had to teach himself. They made the world semi-safe after the war. He is part of the Greatest Generation Annotator's Note: the term The Greatest Generation refers to the generation in the United States that came of age during the Great Depression and later fought in World War 2 and is derived from the book The Greatest Generation by American network television journalist and author Tom Brokaw]. China and Russia are enemies. President Reagan [Annotator's Note: Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States] made the other countries put up or shut up. The United States is no longer fighting against evil. He visits students on Memorial Day [Annotator's Note: federal American holiday to honor and mourn United States military personnel who died in the performance of duty] and Veterans Day [Annotator's Note: annual federal holiday honoring military veterans of American armed forces]. He does not think the children today understand what his generation sacrificed for them.

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