Smith, William Arthur Jr.
Army Chief warrant officer

William Arthur Jr. Smith from Battle Creek, Michigan, Calhoun county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: September 27, 1968
Death details: On July 25, 2000, the Joint Task Force–Full Accounting (JTF-FA) identified the remains of Warrant Officer 3 William Arthur Smith Jr., missing from the Vietnam War.

Warrant Officer 3 Smith entered the U.S. Army from Michigan and was a member was a member of Company A, 9th Aviation Battalion, 9th Infantry Division. On September 27, 1968, he piloted an OH-6A Cayuse (tail number 67-17164) on a command and control mission near My Tho, Kien Hoa Province, South Vietnam. During the mission, the aircraft was hit by enemy ground fire and crashed into the My Tho River in Ben Tre Province, where it immediately sank, killing WO3 Smith. Search and recovery divers arrived at the scene but were unable to recover WO3 Smith’s remains at the time. Between 1976 and 1999, investigators conducted interviews and examined artifacts that led to the eventual excavation of the crash site, where they recovered human remains; in 2000, they were able to identify WO3 Smith from these remains.

Warrant Officer 3 Smith is memorialized in the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.

Source: National Archives, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency