Paul Ray Smith

Paul Ray Smith (September 24, 1969–April 4, 2003) was a United States Army Sergeant First Class who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving with B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, Iraq. He was also the first recipient of the Medal of Honor Flag.

Biography

Smith was born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Tampa, Florida. He graduated in 1989 from Tampa Bay Vocational Tech High School. Following graduation, he enlisted in the United States Army. Smith served there for thirteen years, eventually rising to the rank of Sergeant First Class.

As part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was assigned to B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division. His company was supporting the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment as it made its way through the Karbala Gap, across the Euphrates River and to Saddam International Airport (BIAP) in Baghdad.

On April 4, 2003, a 100-man force was assigned to block the highway between Baghdad and the airport, about one mile east of the airport. A brief battle was fought, and several Iraqi prisoners were captured. SFC Smith spotted a walled enclosure nearby with a tower overlooking it. He and his squad set about building an impromptu enemy prisoner of war (EPW) holding area for prisoners in the enclosure.

Smith and sixteen other men used an Armored Combat Earthmover (similar to a bulldozer) to knock a hole in the south wall of the courtyard. On the north side, there was a metal gate that Smith assigned several men to guard. These men noticed fifty to 100 Iraqi troops who had taken positions in trenches just past the gate. Smith summoned a Bradley fighting vehicle to attack their position. Three nearby M113 Armored Personnel Carriers came to support the attack. An M113 was hit, possibly by a mortar, and all three crewmen were injured.

The Bradley, running low on ammunition and damaged, withdrew during a lull in the battle. Smith organized the evacuation of the injured M113 crewmen. However, behind the courtyard was a military aid station crowded with 100 combat casualties. To protect it from being overrun, Smith chose to fight on rather than withdraw with the wounded.

Meanwhile, some Iraqis had taken position in the tower overlooking the courtyard, just over the west wall. The Iraqis now had the Americans in the courtyard under an intense crossfire. Smith took command of the M113 and ordered a driver to position it so that he could attack both the tower and the trenches. He manned the M113's machine gun, going through three boxes of ammunition. A separate team, led by First Sergeant Tim Campbell attacked the tower from the rear, killing the Iraqis. As the battle ended, Smith's machine gun fell silent. His comrades found him slumped in the turret hatch. His armored vest was peppered with thirteen bullet holes, the vest's ceramic armor inserts, both front and back, cracked in numerous places. But the fatal shot, one of the last from the tower, had entered his neck and passed through the brain, killing SFC Smith.

At some point before the battle, Smith had written, but not sent, an email to his parents. In it, he wrote, "there are two ways to come home, stepping off the plane and being carried off the plane... it doesn't matter how I come home, because I am prepared to give all that I am to ensure that all my boys make it home."

For his actions during the battle, Sergeant First Class Smith was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. On April 4, 2005, exactly two years after he was killed, his eleven-year-old son David received the Medal of Honor from President George W. Bush. Additionally, for his actions in Iraq, he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.

SFC Smith is survived by his wife Birgit, son David, and stepdaughter Jessica. Birgit is the sponsor of the first littoral combat ship, Freedom (LCS-01), and her initials are welded on the ship's keel.

In memory

• The U.S. Post Office in Holiday, Florida and the Army’s former Simulation & Training Technology Center in Orlando have been named in his honor.
• A new middle school named in honor SFC Paul Ray Smith, Medal of Honor recipient for heroism in Operation Iraqi Freedom was dedicated in Holiday, Florida on August 25, 2006.
• SFC Smith is also honored in the Call to Duty U.S. Army series with information about him and a simulation of his battle.
• Birgit Smith, SFC Smith's widow, sponsored the USS Freedom, the first Freedom-class littoral combat ship.
• A new fitness center at Ft. Benning, GA bears his name.
• Tampa Bay Technical High School's NJROTC program commemorated a garden and renamed the ROTC building after him. The building is now called SFC Paul Ray Smith Hall. Also a granite tombstone telling the story of his couragous fight stands in the middle of the garden.
• A new fitness center on Camp Victory, in Baghdad, Iraq is named in his honor.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty:

Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with an armed enemy near Baghdad International Airport, Baghdad, Iraq on 4 April 2003. On that day, Sergeant First Class Smith was engaged in the construction of a prisoner of war holding area when his Task Force was violently attacked by a company-sized enemy force. Realizing the vulnerability of over 100 soldiers, Sergeant First Class Smith quickly organized a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers. As the fight developed, Sergeant First Class Smith braved hostile enemy fire to personally engage the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons, and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade and a 60 mm mortar round. Fearing the enemy would overrun their defenses, Sergeant First Class Smith moved under withering enemy fire to man a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier. In total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the attacking enemy force. During this action, he was mortally wounded. His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy attack, and resulted in as many as 50 enemy soldiers killed, while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers. Sergeant First Class Smith's extraordinary heroism and uncommon valor are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Third Infantry Division 'Rock of the Marne,' and the United States Army.

See also

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• Corporal Jason Dunham, USMC — second Medal of Honor recipient from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, USN — first Medal of Honor recipient from the Operation Enduring Freedom.
• Petty Officer Second Class Michael A. Monsoor, USN — third Medal of Honor recipient from Operation Iraqi Freedom.
• Specialist Ross McGinnis, USA — fourth Medal of Honor recipient from Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Notes

External links

• Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith, Medal of Honor. United States. Retrieved on 2005-04-04... Army website honoring SFC Smith.
• Paul Smith. Army Images Archive. U.S. Army. Retrieved on 2005-04-04... High-resolution photographs of Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith
• Leary, Alex "The Last Measure of Full Devotion". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2004-11-10..
• Leary, Alex Leary "Iraq hero joins hallowed group". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved on 2005-03-09..
• Myers, Steven Lee "Medals for His Valor, Ashes for His Wife". The New York Times. Retrieved on 2005-04-02.. (requires subscription).
• Bennett, Ralph Kinney "Common Name, Uncommon Valor". Opinion Journal. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved on 2006-04-01..
• Mann, William C. Medal of Honor becomes a rarity in modern warfare. Marine Corps Times. Retrieved on 2006-07-04..