William H. Smith, Jr

William H. Smith, Jr
Personal details
Born	15 April 1915 Biloxi, Mississippi
Died	18 April 1998 Troy, Alabama
Nativity	United States
Awards	Bronze Star
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
Arm / service	Field Artillery (Tank Destroyer)
ASN	0378776
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Rank at Ritchie	First Lieutenant
Camp Ritchie	Class 5 (8 February – 9 April 1943)
Section	2
Specialty	Intelligence

Awards and honors

Bronze Star	American Defense Service Medal	American Campaign Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal	World War II Victory Medal

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

William Henry Smith Jr. (15 April 1915 – 18 April 1998) was a Louisiana State University reservist who helped stand up Camp Ritchie, completed intelligence training there in Class 5, and later worked with British deception planning before landing in France after D-Day.

Biography

William Henry Smith Jr. was born on 15 April 1915 in Biloxi, Mississippi. While a student at Louisiana State University he accepted a reserve commission and was called to active duty, reporting to Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Training took him to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, then to Camp Ritchie, Maryland, where from July 1942 to April 1943 he served as a platoon leader and supply officer while the post was being organized—procuring equipment for intelligence training films, overseeing early security, and supervising dozens of enlisted men and civilians. He completed the intelligence course in April 1943 (Class 5). His son David was born in Hagerstown on 19 October 1942 while the family lived near the camp.

Transferred to Washington and then London, Smith joined British Military Intelligence Research Section work under the London Controlling Section, helping sustain deception that pointed toward Pas-de-Calais rather than Normandy. On D+2 he went to France under Brigadier E. T. Williams, G-2 of 12th Army Group, collecting documents for MIRS. He later accompanied a shipload of captured German documents back to the United States in fall 1945. He received the Bronze Star among other decorations.

Smith remained in the Army until 30 August 1960, retiring as a lieutenant colonel after service that also took him to postwar stations including Paris and Taiwan. He died on 18 April 1998 in Troy, Alabama, and was interred at Three Creeks Baptist Cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Research notes

• OB Class 3; Staff & Faculty;

Gallery

• 
  Army ID portrait of William Henry Smith Jr. (RB Archive / family)
• 
  Maj. William H. Smith in Paris, February 1945 (RB Archive / family)
• 
  William H. Smith with Company A, 608th Tank Battalion, Fort Jackson, S.C. (RB Archive / family)
• 
  Awards list for William Henry Smith Jr. (RB Archive / family)
• 
  Capt. William Henry Smith Jr. with group in ETO, April 1944 (2nd row, 2nd from right) (RB Archive / family)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	83
Class_ASN	378776
Class_Name	SMITH, William H.
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• 15 April 1915 — Born in Biloxi, Mississippi.
• 10 July 1940 — Began active Army service (family service summary).
• July 1942 — Assigned to Camp Ritchie as platoon leader / supply officer.
• 19 October 1942 — Son David born in Hagerstown, Maryland.
• April 1943 — Completed Camp Ritchie intelligence course (Class 5); to Washington, then London.
• June 1944 — To France on D+2 with 12th Army Group / MIRS document work.
• Fall 1945 — Returned to the U.S. with captured German documents.
• 30 August 1960 — Retired as lieutenant colonel.
• 18 April 1998 — Died in Troy, Alabama.

Sources

• Capt. William Henry Smith Jr. with group in ETO, April 1944 (2nd row, 2nd from right) (RB Archive / family)
• Awards list for William Henry Smith Jr. (RB Archive / family)
• William H. Smith with Company A, 608th Tank Battalion, Fort Jackson, S.C. (RB Archive / family)
• Maj. William H. Smith in Paris, February 1945 (RB Archive / family)
• Army ID portrait of William Henry Smith Jr. (RB Archive / family)
• RB Archive awards list for William Henry Smith Jr.
• RB Archive Enterprise Daily Ledger feature, “D-Day Memories: William Smith,” 5 June 1994
• RB Archive / family permission note for Ancestry and Facebook-shared Smith materials
• RB Archive family packet: Jewell Ellen Smith memoir of Camp Ritchie; William H. Smith Jr. job description and 1984 MIRS letter
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)