Nickname(s) Smitty Name Robert Smith | Other work CIA officer Allegiance United States Rank Lieutenant colonel | |
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Born May 2, 1924
Tacoma, Washington, United States ( 1924-05-02 ) Buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery Years of service 1942–1945
1960s–1980s (Reserves) Battles/wars World War II
Battle of Normandy
Operation Market Garden
Battle of the Bulge
Vietnam War Died January 7, 1983, San Diego, California, United States Place of burial Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California, United States Battles and wars World War II, Operation Overlord, Operation Market Garden, Battle of the Bulge, Vietnam War Unit 101st Airborne Division, Special Forces | ||
Service/branch United States Army | ||
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burr Smith (2 May 1924 - 7 January 1983) was a United States Army officer. He served in Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, in the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Smith was one of the 140 Toccoa men of Easy Company. A memorial to Smith by his daughter, C. Susan Finn, appeared in the 2009 book We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from Band of Brothers.
Contents
Youth
Smith was born in 2 May 1924 in Tacoma, Washington. His family moved to Los Angeles when he was seven. Smith was sent by his grandmother to Brown Military Academy in Pacific Beach, California because he acted as German soldiers and yelled 'Heil Hilter!' for fun with his friend.
Military service
Smith enlisted in the army at Rochester, New York on 18 August 1942 and volunteered for paratroopers. He was sent to Toccoa, Georgia for training and befriended Warren 'Skip' Muck and Donald Malarkey. William Guarnere in his biography said that Smith 'was a nice boy, so you blamed him for the devilment, because nobody believe it'.
Smith made his first combat jump on D-Day into Normandy. He was originally with Plane 66, but was transferred out of the plane by Richard Winters right before it took off as it was overcrowded. Plane 66 was later shot down by German artillery, killing everyone on board. Smith landed in an apple orchard in Normandy. He and other E Company men engaged in a minor firefight with some Germans. They joined with Easy Company at dawn. Smith was later wounded in Carentan.
Smith also fought in Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge. In 13 January 1945, Smith was wounded in Foy, Belgium and was evacuated to the hospital. He met Perconte and Malarkey and the three rejoined Easy Company in Germany before the end of the war.
Later years
After the war, Smith returned to Los Angeles. He married Mary Jane Shores on 17 May 1946. The couple had three children. He became a lithographer by trade. Smith stayed active in the Army Reserves and rose to major.
Smith was in French Indochina during the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in the 1950s.
In the 1960s, Smith trained and qualified for Special Forces. He was then recruited by the CIA to be a paramilitary specialist for action in Laos during the Vietnam War. He continued to perform his Army Reserve duties at this period and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel. Smith returned to the States in 1974 and became the CIA liaison officer to the Delta Force. In 1980, Smith participated in the failed mission to free American hostages in the US embassy in Tehran, Iran.
Smith retired from the CIA after a hang gliding accident. He was later diagnosed with lung cancer. He died in 7 January 1983.