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FIRST LIEUTENANT ROBERT M.
SMITH was born in New Jersey, in 1916 to Sydney T. and Gertrude A Smith.
The oldest of three children, his father worked as lawyer, and in the early 1940s as the
Police
Recorder. He grew up in Haddon Heights NJ, where his
parents owned a home at 211 Seventh Avenue. In 1930 the family included
a sister, Marion R. Smith. After graduating from
Haddon
Heights High School, he attended the University of Pennsylvania for one year,
and
Camden County Vocational School for three years. He was working at the
RCA plant in Camden NJ at the time he was called to national service in
January of 1942. He had been installed as inspector of the Haddon
Heights Assembly of Artisans only a week before the Army called.
Robert
M. Smith qualified for flight duty, and was first posted at Maxwell
Field AL. He received his wings and was
commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in November of 1942. April of 1943
saw Lieutenant Smith going overseas, to serve with the Air Transport
Command in India. He was promoted to First Lieutenant in August of 1943.
Robert Smith died while
serving with the Air Transport Command in India on December 22, 1943.
He had completed 23 missions over enemy territory before he was lost. He was survived by
his parents and his sister, of the Seventh Avenue address in Haddon Heights
NJ.
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