My Uncle, Glenn Earl Smith, was a member of the Naval Armed Guard detachment assigned to the SS John Harvey, which had the mustard gas bombs.
Born in May, 1924, he was only 19 when he gave his life for his country. Glenn was born and raised in Rutland, Vermont, graduating from Rutland High School in 1942 and volunteering for the Naval Reserve later that year.
Had he survived the War, he would have very likely taken over his father’s business, a home insulation and paint/wallpaper store. His only brother, my Uncle Kermit, was thinking of bigger things. Kermit won admission to Purdue University in the fall of 1940, the first in the family to attend a university. He pursued a degree in metallurgical engineering, graduating in an accelerated program by 1943. He served as an Ordnance Officer in the Pacific Theater.
Strangely enough, my Uncle Kermit would end up working in Italy for Fiat Corporation in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
Thank you for sharing with us the sacrifice of your uncle, Glenn Earl Smith.
There have been so many young men sacrificed in the name of freedom throughout history, we are happy to know their names and remember each one as an individual, not a statistic.
I would love to know if your Uncle Kermit, while working in Italy, was ever able to go to the port of Bari. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the means to visit the many places of loss and say a prayer and give thanks for these men God gave us and then took home so early.
We are grateful for your uncle’s sacrifice and his family.