Master Tech Sergeant Fred Smith of Jay, Florida was the line chief of the Marine 4th Air Wing in the Gilbert Islands in the South Pacific. The Gilbert Islands campaign included the seizures of Tarawa and Makin and led to the invasion of the Marshall Islands of Majuro, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok. Most likely Sergeant Smith's air wing was providing air support from the Gilbert Islands against the enemy fortifications and airfields everywhere in the Marshall's.
It was first believed that Sergeant Smith was the son of Wyatt Lumpkin Smith, who was a farmer in Jay, Florida. His mother was Maud Lou Smith Wilson who married his father in Randolph County, Alabama in 1907 and had the following children:
Wilson Smith 19
Nellie Ruth Smith (born 1913)
Gordon Wilson Smith (born 1916)
Jimmie Mozell Smith (born 1918)
Fred Holmes Smith (born c1920)
Wyatt Lumpkin Smith (born 1922)
Williodeen Smith (born 1924)
Mary Helen Smith (born 1926)
Bennie Harold Smith (born 1928)
Bettie Jo Smith (born 1930)
However, I believe this Fred Smith was in the US Army not the Marines. If anyone has any information from that area on Sgt. Smith please post.
Pensacola News Journal 11-19-1944
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