Bernie Smith was born in March 1919 in Columbus, Ohio. She graduated from high school and took some college courses at Ohio State University [Annotator’s Note: in Columbus, Ohio]. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: the Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], she transferred to a business college and got a degree in typing and shorthand. Her grandparents owned several properties and her father managed them. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:02:52.000.] Smith met her husband, William “Bill” Smith, while she was in high school and he was also a student at Ohio State University. They first met each other as children in the same dancing class. They began dating after talking on the bus several times. Six years later, they married. During this time, the war had broken out and all supplies were rationed. Everyone was a big supporter of the servicemen and women. Her father found her a job at a department store. Bill and Smith were together for about a year before he was deployed overseas. They lived in a little apartment above a hardware store. One day, Bill came home in his winter uniform, and Smith knew that he had received orders for overseas duty in Europe. They kept in contact through the mail. She would receive batches of letters all at once. She would have to put them in order before reading them. The day her husband returned home, she met him at the train station. Bill got a hotel room and a big bottle of champagne. Smith had an allergy to champagne and could not stop sneezing. She eventually found a job at Ohio State working at the entrance board.

Bernie Smith’s husband was United States Army Captain William “Bill” Smith, an officer in an artillery battalion in the 1st Infantry Division who served in the European Theater. She experienced life on the Home Front when her husband was serving overseas and she struggled with not knowing his status. After her husband returned home, she quit her job, and moved to North Carolina to be with him while he became an instructor at a base. The war brought them closer in their relationship. She does not know how World War 2 changed the world because there are still greedy people. The world is getting worse. She believes that America has held a powerful status since World War 2. Smith believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National WWII Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. She also thinks that it is good for the veterans. She and Bill began smoking while he was serving overseas. Smith remarked that she went out with a couple of girls from work to keep herself busy. Bill’s father’s health was failing, and she did not tell her husband while he was overseas. When her husband returned home, he adjusted well and only had a few episodes of post-traumatic stress. He did not talk about his service until he joined a veterans group.