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Lieutenant General <em>Joseph Smith</em>, U.S.A.F. (Retired), passed away of pneumonia on 19 May 1993 at the age of 91. This was only a week before the 70th reunion of his Class of 1923 at West Point, and he had looked forward to marching in the Long Gray Line with great enthusiasm. His family and friends miss him, yet we take comfort in the fact that he lived his life to the fullest right to the end.</p>
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My grandfather’s career took him through some of the most exciting times of history—from the Cavalry to the Air Corps up to his proudest years when he commanded the Military Air Transport Service. Although he retired from the Air Force just before I was born, I will never forget the stories he told about his experiences and the vivid images they evoked in me as a little boy. To me he was a fascinating and admirable person who brought history to life.</p>
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Chief, as we called him, was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on 31 October 1901 and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1923. Following graduation, he was posted with the 8th Cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas. He always loved horses, owning two himself. However, he told me that he knew the horse cavalry was not going to be around much longer; so in 1927 he entered the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas.</p>
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A story I always enjoyed was about his final flight check. His instructors, Captains Clair Chennault and Hopkins, were heatedly disagreeing on the Chandelle Turns that Chief completed, so they each grabbed a plane, took to the sky and demonstrated to their own amazement that their turns did not match! Chief won his wings that day but didn’t enjoy the impromptu air show.</p>
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Later he was assigned to Kelly Field, Texas as Commandant, Aviation Cadets. It was there that he met and married Anna Perle Krausse. In 1934, he volunteered to serve in the Air Corps Mail Detail and flew the Salt Lake City to Cheyenne route under the command of Lieutenant Colonel “Hap” Arnold. I remember laughing (as a boy) in disbelief, when he told me about leaning out of the cockpit to navigate his plane by following the railroad tracks and sometimes surprising farmers when he landed in their corn fields.</p>
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He was stationed in Washington at the beginning of World War II and was in Plans on the War Department’s General Staff. In 1943 the Joint War Plans Committee was organized (the forerunner of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) and he was the Air Officer of the senior team. When President Roosevelt sailed on the Iowa enroute to the Cairo Conference, the senior team was assigned to the support party and my grandfather participated in the daily briefings of the president.</p>
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He assumed various other duties and in January 1945 was assigned as the Chief of Staff of the 20th Bomber Command in India. He moved with this command to Okinawa where it was retitled the Eighth Air Force under General James Doolittle. At the end of World War II he returned to the United States and became Chief of Staff of the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama. In 1947, he organized and became the first commandant of the Squadron Officers School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida.</p>
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Of all the assignments my grandfather had, he was most proud of his role in the Berlin Airlift. In 1948, when Berlin was suddenly blockaded by the Soviets, he was the commanding general of Wiesbaden Military Post. General Curtis Lemay designated him to organize the Berlin Airlift Task Force to deliver supplies to the beleaguered city. The directive anticipated only a three week operation. When Chief was asked what it should be named he replied, ‘“Operation Vittle’ because we are hauling grub.”</p>
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There was no time to test different methods of crowding eighty to one hundred planes in the restricted, narrow air corridor. He devised an ingenious plan by which planes were spaced in sets of five in a staircase pattern with 500 feet separation in altitude but only three minutes in distance. The pattern was repeated, resulting in all planes on the same level being separated by fifteen minutes. By the end of the first month the people of Berlin were receiving 2,100 tons of supplies daily!</p>
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In 1951 he assumed command of the Military Air Transport Service (MATS) and was promoted to lieutenant general. This command he held for seven crucial years until his retirement in 1958. Under his leadership MATS met the challenges of the Korean War, the Suez Crisis, and the airlift of 14,000 refugees from the Hungarian Revolution.</p>
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His decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster and the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star and the Medal for Humane Action. In 1991, he was honored by the Air University at their Gathering of Eagles. He was also a Knight of the Golden Circle at the Army-Navy Club,Washington, DC.</p>
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After retirement, Chief was appointed to the Bolte Board, established by the Secretary of Defense to review the promotion and separation laws for officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force. He continued his interest in matters affecting the welfare of the forces in Vietnam. He was a founder of the National Association of Uniformed Services (NAUS), and Chairman of NAUS PAC, the first military organization to enter the political field. NAUS was organized in 1968 to protect the rights and benefits for the fighting forces and currently has over 155,000 members.</p>
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Chief had a tremendous zest for life and learning. He was a true Renaissance man. He constantly took classes and read a wide range of subjects; it was impossible to find a topic that did not interest him. He was an excellent photographer, baked delicious bread, cooked prize-winning chili and was a Civil War scholar. He was fascinated by technology and tackled a computer; he was an avid fisherman, having fished some of the best spots in the world. He enjoyed golf, and a game with him always included lively discussions on nature, world events and lessons on life. There was wit, charm and great wisdom in those lessons.</p>
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In 1991, he and my grandmother, Anna Perle Smith, moved from Washington, DC to make their new home in a retirement community, The Fairfax in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. He was very proud of his two children, Joseph Michael Smith of Athens, Georgia, and Sandra S. O’Keefe of Alexandria, Virginia; his four grandchildren, Kari and Justin J. Smith; Vicki O’Keefe Ivins; and me and my two children, Meghan and Colin.</p>
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<em>Timothy J. O'Keefe</em></p>