Published: Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009 / Updated: Sunday, Nov. 08, 2009 08:39 PM
Fall season brings back memories for veteran
TOPEKA, Kan. --
This time of year conjures up some vivid memories for a World War II veteran from Topeka.
Edward "Smitty" Smith, now 93 years old, is reminded of a bloody battlefield in Marieulles, France, where he was injured not once but twice on Oct. 31, 1944.
Smith and a few other soldiers were sent ahead of their platoon to check on enemy troops. They came across booby traps and German soldiers in trenches. He was later awarded a Silver Medal for his efforts.
"The Lord was with me," Smith said, recalling the battle.
Smith says he returned to Kansas and worked as a welder and several other jobs before retiring in the 1980s.
Smith grew up in Pottawatomie County on his parents' farm and worked in a blacksmith shop and for the Civilian Conservation Corps before entering the Army on July 13, 1942, at age 26.
He trained as a rifleman while stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Camp Swift and Fort Sam Houston, both in Texas.
His training continued at camps in Louisiana and Pennsylvania before being transferred in the fall of 1944 to Camp Miles Standish in Massachusetts, where he joined other troops on a ship headed to England and then a month later on a plane to Omaha Beach in France.
Smith volunteered to drive supply trucks, hauling ammunition, clothing, gasoline and other items to Rheims, France, for about a month.
"We hauled a load of paratrooper boots one time," he said.
Then when Smith was sent to check on a combat patrol to check the location of enemy troops on Oct. 31, he remembers seeing something strange.
"I saw what looked like spider webs in the trees," he said. "They were booby traps."
He also saw a trench with German soldiers and a minefield a short distance away.
A newspaper clipping announcing his Silver Medal said Smith pointed out the bobby traps, emptied his rifle into the nearest foxhole and then rushed behind a tree, reloaded and shot into the second foxhole. Then he threw grenades.
Smith was wounded, but survived.
After spending about a year rehabilitating in Palo Alto, Calif., Smith was honorably discharged as a buck sergeant on Oct. 8, 1945.
He also received a Purple Heart, Combat Medal, Victory Medal and European Campaign Medal, as well as other medals and citations.
Information from: The Topeka Capital-Journal, http://www.cjonline.com
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