- Date Of Death: August 23, 2011
- State: Connecticut
Harry M. Smith
– age: 85
(July 05, 1926 to August 23, 2011 )
Resident of Norwalk, Connecticut
August 26, at 10:00 a.m.
Norwalk.
the Boy Scouts of America Connecticut Yankee Council, P.O. Box 32, 60
Wellington Road, Milford, CT, 06460, attn: Bequests and Legacies.
Harry Smith, longtime resident of Norwalk, died on Wednesday,
August 23, at Norwalk Hospital in the company of family.
Mr. Smith, born and raised in Weston, CT, joined the United States
Navy in 1943, serving with distinction as a Seaman Second Class/gunner’s
mate during the Second World War in the Pacific Theater of Operations.
He was assigned to the escort carrier USS St. Lo as part of the Navy’s
7th Fleet. The St. Lo was part of a smaller task force which was
nicknamed Taffy 3, comprised of five other escort carriers and their
destroyer escorts. These ships and sailors were charged with protecting
the U.S. invasion of the Philippines in the vicinity of the island of
Samar in Leyte Gulf, and found themselves pitted against the newest and
best of the Japanese Navy, including the super-battleship Yamato.
During their involvement in the Battle Off Samar, Taffy 3 lost
five ships and nearly one thousand men. The St. Lo was the first U.S.
Navy ship sunk by kamikaze attack on October 25th, 1944, during which
Harry was badly burned and forced into the water for two hours before
being rescued. As a result of his gallantry and that of his shipmates,
the Japanese forces withdrew, and General Dougla MacArthur fulfilled his
promise of “I shall return” to the Philippines. Harry recovered from
the Pacific until the war’s end.
Purple Heart, as well as sharing in the awards to his squadron such as
the Bronze Star Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the St. Lo for
extraordinary heroism in the Battle Off Samar against powerful units of
the Japanese Navy, the Combat Action Ribbon, American Campaign Ribbon,
4-Star Asiatic/Pacific Campaign Ribbon, Philippine Presidential Unit
Citation, and 2-Star Philippine Liberation Ribbon.
Harry returned to Norwalk to pursue a career as a master carpenter
and contractor. He eventually chose a career with the New Canaan YMCA,
where he oversaw the management and improvement of the facility between
1964 and his retirement with distinction in 1992.
Mr. Smith is survived by his wife of sixty-two years, Doris
Hendrick Smith, three loving children Harry H. Smith, Timothy R. Smith,
and LeighAnne Smith Lewis, grandchildren Jennifer Mullaney, Heather
Allen, Kayla Smith, Timothy H. Smith, Nathaniel Lewis, Caleb Lewis,
Abigail Lewis, and two great-grandsons, Colin and Gavin Mullaney.
August 26, at 10:00 a.m.
Norwalk.
the Boy Scouts of America Connecticut Yankee Council, P.O. Box 32, 60
Wellington Road, Milford, CT, 06460, attn: Bequests and Legacies.
