My Dad joined the USMC in 1938 at age 17. His Mother Katie Smith signed for him to enlist because there were no jobs available for young men in their city. He left for Boot Camp Training in Parris Island, South Carolina a few weeks later, and his military career was off and running.

He was permanently stationed at Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor under the command of 1st Lt H. G. Kirgis. He was a searchlight operator in Battery G, 3rd Defense Battalion. In late summer or early fall he had just returned from a 6 month operation on Midway Island where he helped complete the airfield defense installation.

When I asked him to tell me his story of what happened on December 7. 1941 he said, ""At 7:00 AM the morning of December 7, I left my barracks just 6 blocks from the harbor, and walked to the Marine Barracks Mess Hall to join my battalion for breakfast." I could hear the strain in his quiet words as he told me, "I had just made my way through the chow line and had started eating half a grapefruit when I heard what sounded like the dull thud of an explosion, and a few seconds later, I felt the mess hall shake. I ran outside onto the parade ground and looked up as a squadron of planes came flying so close down over my head I could see the "red meatballs" of the rising sun on their wings. They were headed toward the harbor and I knew the battleships were their targets. I still had half a grapefruit in one hand and a spoon in the other. I was so outraged at the sight of them bombing our beautiful ships, I threw the grapefruit and the spoon at the planes and ran to get my rifle."

He shook his head slowly as he continued, "Our Battalion was only issued three rounds of ammunition at any given time. When that was gone, we ran to find whatever other guns and ammunition we could find. We just kept on firing at both the first and second waves of the incoming attack. It broke my heart to see the USS OKLAHOMA capsized and the ARIZONA on fire. It seemed like wave after wave of planes came at us forever. I could hardly believe the whole raid took less than two hours."

"What did you do when you knew it was over?" I asked.

"After the attack," he said, "1st Lieutenant H. G. Kirgis, our Commanding Officer, put us to work guarding the fuel tank field where the ships' fuel was stored and assisting in medical evacuations from the bombed ships. I felt nothing but rage at the attack itself and at our vulnerability to another attack in the wake of the total destruction around me."

     "Seven months later, my Battalion was merged with the 1st Battalion and we shipped out to Tulagi Island where we played a key roll in the invasion of Guadalcanal," he said. "The first thing you saw when you walked onto the island was a sign some unit had put up that said "The Road To Tokyo Starts Here," and inch by inch, we fought our way up through that chain of islands toward Japan."

"We could set our watches by the regularity of the Japanese attacks," he continued. "Once, I was swimming with a couple of my buddies just offshore to beat the awful heat and they came at us out of nowhere. All I could do was watch as their machine gun fire strafed the water just inches from my head." He chuckled as he said, "All three of us made it through that one."

My father fought throughout the war, operating a huge searchlight at night to illuminate enemy planes as targets for our antiaircraft gunners. The gunners thought he led a charmed life because the searchlight he was sitting behind was the first thing the Japanese planes would fire at. They wanted to put out that blinding light that followed them everywhere and revealed their position. He survived years of continuous Japanese aircraft strafing that fell inches from his position, and a bomb blast that threw him forty feet. He fought for his Commanding Officer, for his Battalion, for those at Pearl Harbor and for his country.

I was blessed that he survived and became my Father, and was proud to accompany both of my WWII Veteran parents to Pearl Harbor on the 50th Anniversary Commemoration Week.

On December 7, 1991 I stood beside my father, my hero, in the darkness on that same Pearl Harbor shore waiting for the bugle to play morning colors. As the daughter of this Pearl Harbor Survivor, it is not the first time I heard his personal story, burned deep in his memory for over half a century. But his telling me again honors me, whose duty it is to carry on the memory of his service there on that fateful day.

Out of the peaceful Pacific emerged the first rays of the sun washing over the craggy, weathered faces of those other Pearl Harbor Survivors standing in silence with us. The ever watchful eyes of those many heroes gleamed with sorrow and with pride as the brightening sky over the USS ARIZONA Memorial reveals that, today, no enemy threat approached those sacred shores.

We were there to remember Pearl Harbor, my Father and I.

We were there to say good-bye to those whose time ran out, my Hero and I.

We were there to say thank you to the fallen before it is too late, my Father, my Hero and I.

Written With Admiration, Love, and Respect for our Greatest Generation,
Paul's Daughter
Sandra Smith Simmons



Paul and Viola Smith on their wedding day September 8, 1945 in San Francisco, California

Paul and Viola Smith on their wedding day September 8, 1945

Paul and Viola Smith with Son Gary and Daughter Sandra 1956

First thing Paul Smith saw upon offloading at Guadalcanal.

First thing Paul Smith saw upon offloading at Guadalcanal

Paul Smith with the USMC  Battery G 3rd Defense Battalion Guadalcanal  1942 - Photo 4

Paul Smith with the USMC  Battery G 3rd Defense Battalion Guadalcanal  1942 - Photo 3

Paul Smith with the USMC  Battery G 3rd Defense Battalion Guadalcanal  1942 - Photo 2

Paul Smith (squatting in front) with the USMC  Battery G 3rd Defense Battalion Guadalcanal  1942 - Photo 1

USMC  Battery G 3rd Defense Battalion Guadalcanal  1942 - Photo 1

Paul Smith's Commanding Officer 1st Lt H G Kirgis with 1st Lt Wallace B Stanford Jr - Pearl Harbor 1941

Paul Smith's CO 1st Lt H G Kirgis with 1st Lt Wallace B Stanford Jr - Pearl Harbor 1941

Paul Smith - Pearl Harbor Survivor at age 94

Paul Smith in his Pearl Harbor Survivors hat with the American flag in the background

Paul Smith in US Marines Dress Uniform Circa 1940

Paul Smith in US Marines Uniform Circa 1939

Sarasota National Cemetery

After being discharged from the US Marine Corps when WW II ended, Paul Smith wanted to re-enlist but the Marine Corps wouldn’t give him his Master Sergeant Rank back. The Army/Air Force said they would give him his Master Sergeant Rank so he enlisted in the Army/Air Force and when the two service branches split he went Air Force. He went to school to train to be a medical equipment specialist. His first overseas duty station was in England and he traveled back and forth on the USS Henry Gibbons troop transport ship where he earned this certificate

Military Sea Service Transport Certificate - Paul Smith - 1953

Proof copy of Paul Smith's obituary submitted to the Naples Daily News

Paul W Smith Honorable Discharge USMC - September 10th 1945 Certificate - Sensitive Data Redacted

Thank you for your service Dad, and for being the best father a girl could hope to have. I am most grateful for these lessons you and Mom taught me early in life: 1) Always tell the truth. 2) Always give a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. 3) Always be willing to help someone if they deserve help. (I admit it took me awhile to figure out what the deserve part meant and I made some mistakes in that area.) 4) Always put some of the money you earn in savings because you are going to need it, and invest it so it makes you more money. 5) Never do anything you aren't willing for the world to know about; your personal integrity is too important to lose.

I am so proud of you and Mom both for your Military service to our country. I miss you and Mom so much and will always love you to the moon and back.
Your Loving Daughter,
Sandy

Paul Smith and Daughter Sandra at a Family Reunion at Lake Tahoe with the lake in the background.

PAUL WILLARD SMITH

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