Homer D. Smith Jr. (February 16, 1922March 6, 2011) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Early life and education

Smith attended

Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

, graduating in 1943.

Career

World War II

Smith enlisted in the U.S. Army upon graduation and was deployed to England, where he worked on the logistics planning for the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on Tuesday, 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during World War II. Codenamed Operation Neptune and often referred to as ...

Korean War

7th Infantry Division.

Vietnam War

On 15 October 1969, Smith, then a colonel, became commanding officer

Danang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one ...

Support Command, South Vietnam. In August 1974 Smith was appointed as head of the Defense Attaché Office, Saigon (DAO), making him the highest-ranking U.S. military official in South Vietnam. In this role Smith was a key figure in the last year of South Vietnam's existence, finally overseeing

Operation Frequent Wind Operation Frequent Wind was the final phase in the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from Saigon, South Vietnam, before the takeover of the city by the North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the Fall of Saig ...

, the evacuation of American civilians and "at-risk" Vietnamese from

Saigon , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

in April 1975. Smith left Saigon on 29 April 1975 and later resumed command of the DAO residual office at

Fort Shafter Fort Shafter, in Honolulu CDP, Page 4/ref> City and County of Honolulu, Hawai‘i, is the headquarters of the United States Army Pacific, which commands most Army forces in the Asia-Pacific region with the exception of Korea. Geographically, Fort ...

, Hawaii.

1975 to 1979

Smith's assignments during this period included the following: *Deputy chief of staff for logistics of the

United States Army Training and Doctrine Command The United States Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) is a major command of the United States Army headquartered at Fort Eustis, Virginia. It is charged with overseeing training of Army forces and the development of operational doctrine. ...

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

(1975–77) *Commander, U.S. Army Logistics Center, Fort Lee, Virginia (June 1977-July 1979) Smith retired from active service in July 1979. Following his retirement he became head of the newly established Logistics Directorate at

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Headquarters in

Haren, Belgium Haren (Dutch and French, sometimes written ''Haeren'' in French) is an old municipality of Brussels in Belgium, that was merged into the municipality of the City of Brussels in 1921. It is an outlying part of the municipality of the city and is s ...

Personal life

Smith died on March 6, 2011, in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

, Texas, and was buried at

Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery is a United States National Cemetery in the city of San Antonio in Bexar County, Texas. Administered by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, it encompasses , and as of 2014, had over 144,000 interme ...

References

External sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Homer 1922 births 2011 deaths United States Army generals Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army personnel of World War II Texas A&M University alumni American expatriates in the United Kingdom American expatriates in Belgium