Smith, William L. LTC

Lieutenant Colonel William Leo Smith, 47, of San Antoinio, Texas and native of Louisville, Jefferson County, died on 27 November 1968 in a 6^th Aviation Platoon, I Corps, aircraft accident when the UH-1 Helicopter he was a passenger on crashed off the coast of Kangnung, Korea in the Sea of Japan. Smith was on extended active duty. He joined the Kentucky Army National Guard's Battery C of the 138th Field Artillery Battalion in Louisville in February 1949. He left the Guard in January 1954 as a Private. Smith returned to the Kentucky Army National Guard, date unknown, and the Field Artillery as an officer and eventually went onto federal active duty. Kentucky Special Orders Number 111 separated him from the Army National Guard effective 27 November 1968, his presumed date of death, from an extra TOE (table of organization and equipment)i position. Weather was a possible factor in the crash with flying conditions at the time described as marginal with a heavy cloud cover from 700' to 9,000'. An Associated Press story at the time states that the aircraft was returning from a routine "service mission" that afternoon. Dropped off radar at approximately 4 p.m. The aircraft, assigned to the 6th Aviation Platoon of I Corps’ 59th Aviation Company, U. S. Army, was returning to its base at Kangnung, located approximately 100 miles east of Seoul. Search and rescue operations failed to locate the missing aircraft and were called off on 4 December. He is listed as having died of non-hostile causes.

Pilots: Julius Harold "Harry" Ingram and 1LT Richard J. Grigg
Crewchief: Terence D. Miller, SP4