Harold Wesley Smith

Born: May 26, 1920 Hillsgrove Pennsylvania
Rest: May 22, 2012 Torrance California
Harold Smith was born to Harry and Mable Smith and was the oldest of three children, a sister Lucy and a brother Howard. Harold grew up in the mountain farm lands of northeastern Pennsylvania where hard work and a hard life was the norm.
Harold met the love of his life Eloise Berma' Kieffer in 1941 at a dance, and a few months later on October 3rd 1941 they eloped. Eleven months later their first son, Wilbur "Bill" was born September 27th, 1942.
When WWII broke out Harold was employed by the Norden Bombsight Factory in Baltimore Maryland working on the assembly line building the "secret" bombsight critical for the war effort. This assignment qualified him for draft deferment, however his call to service for his country was strong and in early 1944 he requested the deferment be nullified and volunteered for service and was inducted into the U.S. Army Air Corp.
Harold's aptitude qualified him for Flight Training, but was redirected to aerial gunnery school instead, as that was where the need was. Harold was assigned to train in B-24 Liberators and soon formed a crew of 10 men and upon completion of the training was sent overseas in a brand new B-24. The flight plan for his crew was to fly down to South America, where they crossed the Atlantic into North Africa, Egypt, Karachi, and eventually to their base in Pandaveswar India.
Harold flew 24 combat missions in Southeast Asia including China until the war ended in 1945. He flew several "Hump "missions over the Himalayas into China and in two historical missions. The first in February 1945 to bomb a railway bridge in Kanchanaburi Thailand that was built by Allied POW's, later made famous by the movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai". The second occurred a month later when 37 B-24's flew a 2,700 mile, 18-hour bombing mission in Southeast Asia, at the time this had been the longest bombing mission of WWII.
Upon "VJ-Day", Harold eventually rotated back home in November 1945 and was reunited with his family, Eloise and son Bill. Harold was discharged honorably from the Army Air Corp. and he and Eloise bought a farm in Pennsylvania. On this farm on February 16th 1947, Harold's second son Walter "Bud" was born. Later in 1947 the Air Force had separated from the U.S. Army to become its own branch of the service, forming the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and was looking for experienced aircrews. Harold answered the call again for his country placing the farm up for sale and reenlisting into the U.S. Air Force. This brought Harold and the family to Carswell AFB in Fort Worth Texas, where Harold was assigned to B-29 Superfortresses, eventually transitioning to the new B-36 Peacemakers. Harold flew for SAC until 1955 being stationed in Carswell AFB and Biggs AFB in El Paso, Texas. During Harold's time with SAC his Bomber Crew won the Bombing Competition in 1951 and was selected for Project Ivy, the first Hydrogen Bomb detonation in the Bikini Islands. Later, Harold's crew and aircraft were again selected for a movie shoot with Jimmy Stewart, titled "Strategic Air Command", a famous Hollywood cold war movie released in 1955.
In 1955 Harold came off flying status to be more at home with his family and was reassigned to Greenham Common RAF Station in Berkshire, England, here Harold's third and final son, Warren "Butch" was born on June 7th, 1958.
Harold and family moved back to the states in December 1958 and were assigned to March AFB in Riverside, California. In 1962, Harold was again transferred to Carswell AFB in Fort Worth, Texas where he eventually retired in 1965 due to a heart attack.
Harold's post military life brought him to Vought in Texas where he worked on aircraft technical manuals. In 1966 Harold moved the family to Southern California answering an employment add from Butler Publications in Hawthorne working on the Boeing 727 Illustrated Parts Catalog (IPC) technical manuals.
Harold followed the 727 IPC Project to Continental Data Graphics (CDG) in 1970, and worked for CDG until 1985, retiring at the age of 65. Harold's desire to stay busy brought him back to CDG in post-retirement working part-time until 1997.
Harold was a member of the Concordia Lutheran Church in Inglewood for 46 years, where he served several terms as President of the congregation.
Harold's heart was broken forever when his beloved wife Eloise passed away, in May 2005, after almost 64 years of Marriage. Broken hearted, Harold pushed onward to be there for his 3 sons, 11 grandchildren, and 6 great-grandchildren.
After a long struggle with a severe degenerative back condition that eventually left him bedridden, Harold was reunited with the Lord and with his loving wife he so dearly missed.
We will miss Harold "Hal", Dad, Grandpa "Pampa", and Great Grandpa but we are consoled that he is no longer in pain and living in eternity in paradise with the Lord and his beloved wife, Eloise.