Gordon K. Smith

Born: 02 July 1915 Waukesha, Wisconsin

Enlistment date: 1940

Deployments: Europe - Nov 1943

Units: 501st Parachute Battalion, 507th Parachute Infantry Regiment 82nd Airborne Division.

Rank: 2nd Lieutenant to Lieutenant Colonel.

Specialisations:

Qualifications: Master Parachutist Badge, Combat Infantryman Badge, Expert Marksman with Rifle, Pistol, Carbine, Light Machine Gun, Browning Automatic Rifle, Grenade and Bayonet.

Decorations: Bronze Star with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Purple Heart, Prisoner of War Medal, American Campaign Medal, EAME Theater Ribbon with 1 Bronze Arrowheads, WWII Victory Medal, Commendation Ribbon with Oak Leaf Cluster, French Croix de Guerre with Gold Star.

Discharge Date: Retired 31 May 1968

Other Information: Following the end of WWII, Gordon continued to serve his country in 325th AIR, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 38th Infantry Regiment, 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Airborne Department, TIS and as Reserve Instructor to the 84th Airborne Division in Madison, Wisconsin.

Gordon earned his Purple Heart in Normandy when he parachuted near Sainte Mere Eglise and was shot and made unconscious by a German soldier. He awoke in hospital to find the same German soldier who shot him sitting at his bedside. His captor promptly brought out a bottle of red wine and a packet of cigarettes and offered them to him. Unfortunately for Gordon, the doctors would not allow him the cigarettes, but did allow him to have the wine. As it turned out, the German was in fact a Russian conscript forced into military service with the German Army and he returned to speak to Gordon and share a glass of wine while Gordon recovered from his wounds.