Individual: Smith, Michael Social Security #: 304-52-0293 SS# issued in: Indiana Birth date: Apr 4, 1948 Death date: Aug 9, 1968 Mick was drafted into the United States army in January 1968 during a time when as many as 30 young men were being called to serve their country, from Martin County, Indiana, alone, to train and serve in the Viet Nam Conflict in South East Asia. He took basic Army training at Ft. Knox, Ky. and then after 3 months of AIT training left for Viet Nam in mid July 1968. Mick served as a rifleman in the US Army Infantry and was a marksman. He was reportedly shot by a sniper on August 9, 1968, while on a search and destroy mission in Viet Nam. Mick was the second man to die from Martin County during that decade long conflict. The first was James Hembree. Later Mick’s first cousin, Timothy O’Connor, was also killed in Viet Nam. The VFW Post in Shoals was later dedicated to the two, first cousins who died in Viet Nam and named the Smith-O’Connor VFW Post. As remembered by his younger sister, Lynn, Mick loved the outdoors. As a young teen he read many outdoor sports magazines and applied what he learned from his father, Hugh, and the books to hunting, fishing and trapping all through the White River bottoms. He ran trot lines for fishing and searched the river bottoms for mussel shells on White River near Houghton Bridge. He tried his hand at skinning small animals like foxes, possums, raccoons and beaver and sold the pelts. Mussel shells were taken to Shoals and sold as well. He was forever finding small snakes and young animals and bringing them to the house to share with his siblings. Mickey loved to work on the farm and one of the last things he asked to do before leaving for Viet Nam was to put up hay with his Dad, Hugh F. Smith. Mick’s eyes danced with fun loving mischief and he nearly always wore a mischievous grin, at least, as remembered in happy times by those who knew him. His serious side showed a deep love of nature, family, and close friends. His favorite flower was the red rose. He was a man of honor and served his duty to our country at all cost. Mick worked at the Naval Support Center Crane, Indiana in ammunition production after he graduated from St. John High School in May 1966. His closed friend and roommate in Crane Village was Paul Doane. Paul later named his own son after Mick. He married Sheryl Michael from Crane, Indiana in January 1968. Sheryl gave birth to Mick’s daughter, Mickie Lynne, on October 11, 1968, two months after his death. Mickey was returned to the US sealed under glass and is buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Loogootee, Indiana. The family first said they preferred to remember Mick as he was alive and not open up the casket, but with the insistence of John Milligan, a close friend to Mick even before John married Lynn. John had told Mick he would “see him” when he got back to Indiana and felt that he had to see him. The casket was then opened and Lynn for one was grateful to have seen Mick one last time, because it was so hard to accept his death that she had to literally “remind” herself that she had seen him lying there in the casket and knew that it was him there dead. Mick’s Uncle Peter Hillenbrand, who married Connie Strange, was an air craft controller at the Evansville Regional Airport in 1968, and remembers how very hard it was to direct air traffic when he directed the plane in which carried Mick’s body back to Indiana for burial. Sheryl laid a red rose & rosebud on the glass over Mick and they were sealed with the tears, which had fallen there. At the cemetery, on the hill, stood Paul Doane silently suffering from our loss of our beloved Mickey. (Authored by sister, M. Lynnette Smith, on July 19, 1998)