Louis Smith was born in April 1925 in Newport, Kentucky. He grew up during the Great Depression, when jobs were scarce and money was tight. His father worked at a shoe factory, but when the industry moved out of town, the family had no income. Smith went to work making candy at 16 years of age. He loved to play sports, but his after school jobs prevented him from participating in the athletics programs in high school. Smith wanted to be a professional ball player, but never had the money to go away and try out. He is proud to have had a chance to play with two world championship slow pitch softball teams. Smith's parents were opposed to President Hoover [Annotator's Note: Herbert C. Hoover], and blamed politics for getting the United States into the war. When the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor was announced, Smith was at work, and his reaction was, "Hell, in a couple of weeks we'll go over and wipe them out." He wanted to join the armed forces as soon as he could, but he was underage, and his mother would not agree. Smith went through the processes at the Marine Corps recruiting office anyway, and eventually got his mother's consent. He said John Wayne movies inspired him to be a Marine.

Boot camp for Louis Smith took place at Parris Island, South Carolina and he found it tough. They shaved his head to the skin, issued him uniforms, and assigned him to a Quonset hut. He learned how to march, and how to tear down a rifle, put it back together, and fire it. Smith excelled at sharpshooting. After completing boot camp, he had a ten day leave, and then he was sent to Norfolk, Virginia where he did guard duty on the pier and at the gates. After about eight months, Smith got deployed overseas. He turned in his winter clothes for khakis and traveled by troop train to Camp Pendleton, California. In San Diego, California, he boarded an old Dutch ship, the SS Bloemfontein, for Pearl Harbor.

Louis Smith recalled that he was inducted 26 February 1943, wounded on Iwo Jima 26 February 1945, and quit smoking Camels on 26 February 1980. It's a special date for him. His tour in the Pacific started at Pearl Harbor, then took him to the Marshall Islands where they stood at anchor for about a week while the initial assault on Guam was carried out. Smith noted that he couldn't wait to get into combat. It was why he was there, and he was looking forward to it. He said he got a lot of advice from the guys who had been in combat, and didn't know how much of it he could believe. Although Guam was "pretty well taken" when he arrived, they were loaded on trucks and motored to the jungles in the north part of the island to join the 21st Marine Regiment [Annotator's Note: Smith was assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division]. At Ritidian Point they lived in tents and operated on a three-day schedule: one day to clean up the camp, another day on guard duty and the third day on patrol. He was on patrol when he killed his first Jap [Annotator's Note: period derogatory term for Japanese] on Guam. He was really proud of it at the time, but as he got older, he felt the gravity of killing another human being.

While he was with the 21st Marine Regiment [Annotator's Note: Smith was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division], Louis Smith was made a scout, and he said it was "no fun" being the first guy to go across a clearing in the jungle. He tried to get away from the assignment, even trying a flamethrower, but the weapon was designed for a right-hander and Smith, being left-handed, didn't do very well. Smith also had duty following a tank, acting as its "eyes" and communicating with the soldiers inside by means of a telephone mounted at a back door of the vehicle, but he didn't like that either. He ended up with a BAR [Annotator's Note: Browning Automatic Rifle] which Smith thought was a great weapon, but heavy. The unit inflicted more casualties, but Smith noted that it wasn't a one-on-one situation when the squadron went out. It was everybody firing. When they had cleared up the island, they were transferred to the 9th Marine Regiment, encamped on the beach, and trained for the next project. No one knew what the next move would be, but Smith said when they got fresh eggs and milk for breakfast, a last meal before something serious, they knew they were going into combat again. They were loaded aboard the USS Knox (APA-46), and just before they arrived, Smith said they were shown a map of Iwo Jima with Suribachi [Annotator's Note: Mount Suribachi] on one end.

When Louis Smith's transport ship [Annotator's Note: USS Knox (APA-46)] arrived, among a mass of other ships, at Iwo Jima to disembark his 3rd Division, the 4th and 5th Marine Divisions were already on the beach. The 3rd Division was held in reserve, and Smith said that he had a "ringside seat" on the ship; he could see the battle lines, and watch everything going on. One day, the whistles on all the ships started blowing. It was the day the flags went up on Iwo. That was the day they threw the ropes over the side and the 3rd Division went ashore via Higgins boats [Annotator's Note: landing craft vehicles, personnel or LCVP]. On last minute instructions, Smith went back to get his gas mask, and in the process, lost his helmet. He hustled off without it, and snatched a helmet from one of the dead on shore. He scrambled with the rest of his unit [Annotator's Note: 9th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division] to the foothills of Mount Suribachi, where they halted. He took cover in a shell hole and stayed there overnight. At 9:25 the next morning, the tanks went uphill toward the airfield. At 9:30, the troops followed. They encountered machine gun fire and Smith said he hit the ground. Someone behind shouted "You can't go forward on your stomach! Get up and go!" When he was about halfway across the airstrip, a barrage of mortar fire came in, and Smith couldn't find cover. He dove into a shallow tank tread indention, and started digging. When a retreating tank stopped nearby, it drew mortar fire to their immediate vicinity. Smith blames his hearing loss on the impact of those shells. They moved downhill the next morning and Smith took cover behind a small knoll. Moments later, a hand grenade landed just above Smith's head. It was smoking, and he grabbed it and threw it back. It went off on the other side of the knoll; another grenade went off to his left side. The soldier beside him was hit, but Smith was unharmed. When the next grenade exploded, Smith was hit by the shrapnel that went through his buddy. The other soldier "just got blown up," and Smith's left hand and arm were wounded. Smith crawled through the black sand to a foxhole and was joined by two other guys. They took his grenades, and tossed them over the knoll, and then everything went quiet. Smith said it was weird; all the firing stopped, and they got up and headed back. Smith got first aid, and stayed in the field overnight.

The morning after he was injured, Louis Smith learned that his platoon leader and squad leader were dead. The assistant squad leader decided to send Smith back to shore, and handed him a list of equipment the corpsman needed. Smith got some of the needed items from a chaplain and corpsman who were cutting dog tags off dead Marines, and, reaching a first aid station, offloaded the supplies to other Marines returning to the front. He was told to get a ride on a nearby Weasel [Annotator's Note: M29 Waesel], a jeep that had treads rather than tires, that was headed to shore. The Weasel was already full, and went off without Smith, but was blown up shortly after it left. Smith considers himself lucky that he wasn't on board. He got on the next jeep headed to the beach, then boarded a DUKW [Annotator's Note: amphibious truck]. Smith was struck by the realization that he was leaving the island, and contrary to his expectations, he was leaving it alive. The first two or three ships the DUKW approached were already filled up, but Smith was eventually loaded onto a hospital ship, had his clothes cut off, was given shots in each of his arms, bathed, and issued a cot. Smith said that he was treated well, and ended up in a Quonset hut hospital on Saipan where he was amazed at being treated by a white nurse. He noted that he was picking pieces of shrapnel out of his injured hand an arm every time his bandages were changed and even after he returned home. Smith got "ticked off" at the Red Cross when one of their representatives gave a speech about the availability of money for anyone who needed it, then added that they would not be issue funds until it was clear that an individual had "money on the books." Smith called it a "big bust," and hated the Red Cross ever after.

Louis Smith was transported to a hospital in Aiea Heights, Oahu, Hawaii, and after a week, he volunteered for officers' mess duty. On one Sunday, he remembers, he brought stock pots full of fried chicken and iced beer to a beach outing and drifted on a raft in the ocean with a cold beer. Smith thought he was in heaven. He spent the rest of his time in Hawaii, and recalls when President Roosevelt [Annotator's Note: Franklin D. Roosevelt] died. Smith said nobody knew who would be taking over the presidency, because Truman [Annotator's Note: Harry S. Truman] was not very well known. When Truman approved the atomic bomb, Smith was all for it, because it ended the war. He started celebrating in the officers' mess on V-J Day [Annotator's Note: Victory Over Japan Day, 15 August 1945], then went to Honolulu and out to Waikiki Beach for a swim. He and some buddies "swiped" a jeep, and drove to the top of Pali Pass where they ran out of gas. They coasted the jeep down the hill, and thumbed a ride back to camp. Smith said it was a "real good day." Smith remained in a tent city the soldiers called a "sweat box" until his name was called to go home. He slept on a gun turret on the USS Maryland (BB-46) until he reached the United States. From San Diego he traveled to Los Angeles, then on an Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe train with Harvey Girls [Annotator's Note: waitresses that operated eateries for the railway] he traveled to Chicago and got his discharge at Great Lakes, Illinois on 1 December 1945. He returned to work at Kroger's, and gave his mother his checks. Smith decided to join some friends on an odyssey to Florida, and when he ran low on money in Miami Beach, he got a job in construction. Later he used the G.I. Bill to get a job with the post office.

Louis Smith had trouble sleeping because of dreams of Iwo Jima, but he didn't otherwise feel he had problems getting adjusted to being a civilian again. He never discussed his time in combat until, while volunteering in a soup kitchen after retiring, a guy from the Navy asked him to talk to school kids about his experiences during the war. He did that a few times, and got great reviews on his presentations. His most memorable experience during the war was hitting the water on the DUKW [Annotator's Note: amphibious truck] and getting off Iwo Jima alive. He remembers that he couldn't wait to write and let his mother know that although he was wounded, he was whole. He reiterated that it was John Wayne that inspired him to become a Marine; that and the fact that he felt he would get the best training in the Marine Corps, and would be ready if he was put in a position to use it. His service meant a lot to him, but Smith doesn't think it means enough to Americans today. Although he appreciates what has been done for him, and the nice people who are willing to recognize his contributions while serving in the armed forces, Smith said that, speaking honestly, he thinks there is too much going on about the Second World War. He does agree, however, that young people should know that life is "not all a bunch of cherries." World War 2, Smith feels, took America out of the Great Depression, and put people back to work. He thinks people today should be thankful that they have the opportunity to support themselves.