I had heard about this soldier being killed in combat, but I had no idea he was AfAm until I went to the Orange County Register site and saw a pix of his daughter. He worked in OC, where I live, an area which is only 2% black.
Tuesday, April 8, 2003
Marine planned a career in Anaheim
Edward Smith, killed near Basra, had a position with city's police force.
By BILL RAMS, ELEEZA V. AGOPIAN and JIM RADCLIFFE
The Orange County Register
He decided to retire in January. He had his future planned.
A job at the Anaheim Police Department, where he already was a rising star. New friends. More time to go camping with his wife and three children.
But then 1st Sgt. Edward "Smitty" Smith's plans changed. The Marine Corps postponed all retirements for a year and called him to serve in the war with Iraq.
"He had been in the Marine Corps for 20 years and never really been in combat," his wife, Sandy Smith, said Monday. "He told me he didn't want to go, but that he thought he should."
Marine Corps officials said Smith, 38, and his company of more than 200 Marines were involved in a firefight near Basra. His wife said he was shot; Marine officials said he died of head wounds.
Sandy Smith fought back tears as she talked about her husband of nearly 15 years and the effect his death will have on their children: Nathan, 12; Ryan, 9; and Shelby, 8.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Sgt. Edward Smith
Memorial Fund
c/o Harbor National Bank
101 E. Lincoln Ave., suite 125
Anaheim, CA 92805
(714) 535-2400
"He was the best man I've ever known," she said. "He was a wonderful father."
Smith was part of the 2nd Tank Battalion in the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and received many commendations during his career.
He lived in Vista and drove on weekends to Anaheim, where he had been a reserve officer for almost four years.
At the Police Department, his colleagues described him as a top member of the Special Weapons and Tactics team. He also was Orange County's Best Reserve Officer in 2001 and Reserve of the Year in Anaheim in 2000. He was "top cop" at Palomar police academy and planned to work in Anaheim after the war.
Wednesday, the SWAT team got a letter from Smith written on the back of a cardboard box. He said he was going to ride into Baghdad wearing a SWAT hat.
"He's a guy I kicked in doors with and who watched my back," officer Steve Davis said. "Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen."
On Monday, officers talked about cashing in their vacation time and donating it to Smith's family. They reminisced about the polite, 6-foot-tall, 250-pound man they called "Gunny" - for gunnery sergeant. Even after Smith was promoted, the name stuck.
"I just finished writing him a letter that I planned to send out today," Davis said. "In it, I asked him to tell everybody in his group that we appreciate what they do."
Davis said Smith was a doting husband who showed off his family at the SWAT team Christmas party.
"He kept telling Nathan: 'When Daddy's not around, you're the man of the house,'" Davis said.
Hundreds of police officers signed a card for Smith's family. "Our prayers are with you. Ed is a hero in our eyes," one detective wrote. "I'm so proud to have known Smitty," wrote another.
Smith thought he had completed his last tour after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
He was deployed to Japan, then the Middle East.
In early January, after a family skiing vacation in Mammoth, he submitted his retirement application. Days later, the Secretary of the Navy took the unusual step of forbidding all Marines from leaving the service for 12 months.
The call came. Smith would head toward Iraq on Jan. 31.
"He knew how I felt about it before he left but there was nothing he could do," his wife said. "He told me he'd be back."
Several family members, friends and even the children's teachers gathered Monday at the two-story house south of Camp Pendleton.
Smith's three children smiled as they remembered their dad.
"He likes to sing a lot," Ryan said. "When he comes out of the bathroom, he sings a dorky song."
"We have to go at least once a year camping," Nathan said. "We still will," Shelby said.
A neighbor asked the children: "Aren't you all proud of your dad?"
In unison, the children answered: "Yeah."