Corporal Smith was a Light Weapons Infantryman with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. He was listed as Missing in Action while fighting the enemy in North Korea on November 28, 1950. He was presumed dead on December 31, 1953. His remains were not identifiable until later and in 2016 his remains were positively identified. CPL Smith's name is permanently inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.