Hi. My name is Chris Smead. My grandfather was William Smead. He served in WWII, the Korean War, and vietnam. He died about 2 years ago. And it kills me everyday that I never knew what experiences he had throughout those wars. He died before I could ask him. He never got to share his stories with anyone. Most likely because no-one asked. He never got the respect he deserved. Does anyone perhaps know him, or know of him? He was a tank mechanic, but also saw alot of combat according to my grandmother. He was there at Pearl Harbor, and apparently landed on the beaches during the Normandy invasion. I hold the highest respect for the last great generation. I stand in awe of all they did for our country. Thanks to all who were there. Anyone who might know anything about my grandfather, please email me at chris@cmnetworking.net Thanks. -Chris Smead
Chris, thank you for joining in. First, get your hands on your grandfather's SSN and personal data. Then fire off a request to the National Military Records Center in St. Louis, to get whatever they have on him. That will take a while. The last name of "Smead" should not have been zapped by the 1973 fire. That will get you the bare bones and the units he served in. Your next step would be the official histories of the campaigns he was in and the National Archives records, which will have the logs and diaries of the units. After that, you contact the reunion groups connected with those units and hunt them down. They will connect you with folks who knew your grandfather, as well as the histories of the unit commissioned by its reunion groups and suchlike. The Infantry Journal Press did a series of histories of each US division. Long on pride, they have a lot of names and photos, and are actually good history. Those are good places to start.
Chris, I am always popping down to The National Achives at Kew to do research and my net visit is going to be in the next three weeks, if you can find his regiment/units information I'll be more than happy to have a look for you. Welcome aboard by the way. Regards Kieron
