LEESBURG, Fla. – Russell Howard Smith, Jr., WWII Combat Veteran, (97) passed away on May 14, 2023 at home.
Memorial services are to be determined. In lieu of flowers, please consider donation in his name to a charity of your choice.
Russell was born May 3, 1926 at Syracuse University Hospital, Syracuse, N.Y. to Russell Howard and Nancy Caroline (Amburgey) Smith, Sr.
He played high school football as an offensive and defensive end and graduated from Manlius Military Academy, Manlius, N.Y. 10 days after D-Day in 1944 and went to war three months later earning the Combat Infantry Badge as an operations NCO with the 399th Infantry Regiment of the 100th Infantry Division.
While serving as part of the occupation forces in Germany, he found time for R&R on the inaugural Olympic ski runs of Chamonix, France..
Married in 1951, it was also the same year he earned a mechanical engineering degree from Syracuse University and was called back into service during the Korean War as an Air Force 2nd Lt. radar maintenance officer.
A 33-year career in aeronautical engineering came next with Chance-Vought, North American Aviation and Rockwell International. From the F4U Corsair program, he transitioned to the F8U Crusader controls group and finished up as a computer simulation programmer for the Hellfire missile program and was named Rockwell Aeronautical Engineer of the Year in 1967.
He grew up playing the banjo and truly enjoyed square dancing and loved singing and listening to barbershop music.
A master woodworker, his skill was evident in all his creations from cabinetry and furniture to home renovations and barn raising.
He traveled to more than 10 countries, flew a P-51 Mustang and planted more than 1,000 trees with his family in New Albany, Ohio.
Perhaps his most enjoyable times happened at the family camp on Otisco Lake, N.Y. and hunting with Dad near the Grasse River, N.Y.
Russell was preceded in death by his beloved wife of more than 70 years Virginia Elsa (Meyer) Smith, and is survived by their five daughters, 13 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren.
