Sam Smith
B-17 Pilot
Sam Smith
Captain, Army Air Corps
1942–1956
Lt. Sam Smith
England, 1945
This is the only mission I flew that when I got back I wanted to kiss the ground.
I was born in Goldthwaite, TX in 1924. When I was about 6 years old, my Dad brought a model airplane kit home, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, be a pilot.
I was a Senior in high school when Pearl Harbor was bombed. When I turned 18, I volunteered as an aviation cadet candidate. Went to boot camp in Wichita Falls, TX. We had over 14 months of school and training all over the country. We studied, navigation, maps, pre-flight training, primary flying, and instrument training. It was very intensive classroom and physical work. I was sent to Lincoln, NB to pick up a crew for a B-17. I was 19 and a B-17 pilot. Fortunately my friend Sonnefield was in my crew.
We loaded onto the USS Manhattan, that had been converted into a troop ship carrying 8,000 men. We sailed out of New York. Sonnefield and I were on deck looking at the Stature of Liberty. I said, “Sonney we are going to be in a real war, we may never see that thing again, we better take a good look.” We docked in England in late January 1945. I took my First Combat Flight the end of February to Hamburg, Germany. It was relatively easy as there was intense cloud cover.
The 10th mission I flew was also to Hamburg, and it was a whole different story. We got attacked by that new jet fighter the Germans had. My tail gunner shot one down and one dang near shot us down. The guy flying above me catches fire, gets about even with me and explodes. This is the only mission I flew that when I got back I wanted to kiss the ground. As a result of the way I flew, controlled, and landed the airplane, I receive the Distinguished Service Cross.
I flew 24 combat missions, over 200 combat hours. When the war ended they selected a bunch of crews to come to the states to get ready to invade Japan in October 1945. The war ended and they broke up my crew. You talk about a bunch of cry babies, that was a hard thing to do tell those guys bye. They sent us to Ft. Sam Houston, in San Antonio, for a separation medical. There I fell in love with a lady that makes me smile every time I think of her.
When the war over, I wanted to get out of the service and attend college. I was 20. I knew if you were going to get anywhere in life, you had to have an education. I decided to go to Texas A&M on the GI bill. In 1954 I started, with a friend, what turned out to be a very successful engineering company. We designed and constructed refinery units and petrochemical plants. We built 95 plants in Mexico and South America. We did some things some guys wouldn’t or couldn’t do, we just did them. I’m half retired now, still do little bit of daily consulting for a group in Columbia.
I was given a few medals, but the one I am most proud of is the French Medal – Knight of the Legion of Honor.
I was married to Mary Ann for 69 years. {06-23-2015 • Kerrville, TX}