TEC5 Douglas E. Smith
1922 – 1945
USAR
WWII
Douglas Edward Smith was born June 19, 1922 in Chicago, the only child of Russell G. and Ruby Smith.
He grew up in Highland Park.
Smith enlisted on February 9, 1943, and served as a medic in Company B of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment in the 17th Division.
The 513th PIR was an airborne infantry regiment of the U.S. Army, raised during World War II, and formed part of the 17th Airborne Division. The Regiment participated in the European Campaign, fighting in the latter stages of the Battle of the Bulge in January, 1945 and parachuting into Germany in Operation Varsity on March 24, 1945. Operation Varsity Involved more than 16,000 paratroopers and several thousand aircraft; it was the largest airborne operation in history to be conducted on a single day and in one location.
TEC5 Douglas E. Smith was killed in action one day after Operation Varsity - March 25, 1945 - and was awarded the Purple Heart. He is buried alongside his parents in Barrington’s Evergreen Cemetery.
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Remember. Honor. Teach.
Courtesy of Signal Hill Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution
