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Remember...Carl Edward Smith
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Carl Edward Smith was born May 8, 1909, to Harry and Mary Anna Bradfield Smith of Sistersville in Tyler County, West Virginia. At the time of Carl Smith's birth, his father was a steamboat pilot and his mother was a housewife.
Carl Smith had three siblings: George, Fannie (married name: Henthorn), and Robert. The 1920 Federal Census taker found the family together still in Sistersville. In the1930 census, Carl Smith is listed as a truck driver in the oil industry and still living at home. In 1940, Carl Smith is listed in the census, living with his mother. His marital status was listed as divorced.
According to Young American Patriots, Carl Edward Smith attained the rank of staff sergeant in the Army Air Corps in World War II; he entered the service on August 18, 1942, at Fort Hayes, Columbus, Ohio, and also served at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana. His brother, Robert, is shown in the adjoining photo. Robert Smith served in North Africa, France, and Germany, where he was wounded in action. Long before the brothers went off to war, their father, Harry Smith, was deceased, and this was noted in the Young American Patriot entries. Mr. Smith had died of influenza in 1919, noted as a third relapse, followed by pneumonia on his death certificate. During 1918 and 1919, a worldwide pandemic of influenza killed millions of people, nearly 700,000 in the United States. The influenza came and went in waves, so it's possible that the same flu killed the elder Smith.
According to an article published in the Tyler County Journal on December 7, 1944, Carl Smith was first reported missing in action, and later his death was confirmed and categorized as killed in action. Carl Smith died in India while serving as an aerial engineer. No notation could be found for the location of his grave or a memorial with his name.
| The Army Air Corps was in India during World War II to move supplies into China and support actions there. An overland route, called the Burma Road, was lost to Japanese control 1942, and thereafter, flying supplies from India to China was the primary way of accomplishing this task. Common reference to this action was called "Flying the Hump," a reference to the flight over mountains in the Himalayan range. The altitudes varied between 12,000 mean sea level (MSL) and 20,000 MSL. ("Flying the Hump: History," China-Burma-India Hump Pilot Association, accessed 5 May 2019, http://www.cbihpa.org/history.html.) The weather in the mountains could deteriorate very quickly and become extremely dangerous, but the pilots were expected to fulfill their missions, despite the high hazard. Airplane maintenance was also a serious problem due to parts shortages. |  Allied lines of communication in Southeast Asia (1942-43). The Hump airlift is shown at upper right. Courtesy the Department of History, United States Military Academy |
According to the Lyon Air Museum website, in an article entitled "Flying the Hump During World War II" (accessed 5 May 2019, http://lyonairmuseum.org/blog/flying-hump-during-world-war-ii), "As a logistics operation, Hump flights were a failure. The cost in aircraft and crews was enormous. Loss estimates vary between 468 and 600 plus airplanes (the AAF did not record every crash), but the more probable estimate is 590 aircraft lost along with 1,314 crewmen. Some 1,171 men who survived crash landings and bailouts walked out to safety; 345 men were declared missing."
No records were found regarding the specific military operation that led to Staff Sergeant Carl Edward Smith's death. He was awarded a Purple Heart and a Unit Presidential Citation.
Article prepared by Cynthia Mullens
June 2019
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
