Today our walk was dedicated in honor of :
Army PVT Roy E. Smith, Age 19 of Crab Orchard, TN.
KIA May 12, 1944
85 Inf. Div – World War II
Here is an excerpt from a letter to his friend, Jack Donelson in Crab Orchard, TN on March 2, 1944
“If I had a farm here, and a home in hell, I’d just sell the farm and go home.”
He is buried in Haleys Grove Cemetery in Crab Orchard.
We had a great 7.82 Mile walk today. We walked to the Obed River park and enjoyed meeting several people out walking in the park and then we headed up town to the War Memorial Park. We met Roy’s nephew and gave him a flag to put on Roy’s grave. We then met up with Sam from WVLT News and we got to talk about my story and what I do. We then headed back to the house. I want to thank Ricky, Sam for helping me honor this hero. I also want to thank everyone who honked, waved, and saluted today in helping me honor this hero. We had 252 honks today. It was amazing. Thank you.
Army PVT Roy E. Smith will not be forgotten !
You are a blessing to many. Thank you for blessing our family, and reminding us of who we are and the great heros that we came from. Let us never forget.