Arthur M Ratliff

Arthur M. "Smiley" Ratliff (1924—2007) was an American teacher, author and businessman from Tazewell, Virginia with interests in coal mining, banking, cattle and real estate. Ratliff was awarded 19 medals for his service in World War II and the Korean War, including two Purple Hearts, the World War II Victory Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, and a Bronze Star for capturing a North Korean machine gun nest in 1950, and received an honorary doctorate from Emory and Henry University. He lived in the Whitten Valley section of Tazewell County. In the early 1980s Ratliff proposed creating a home for himself on the remote South Pacific Henderson Island but failed to gain the approval of the British government.