Background
Smith was born in Roodhouse, Illinois.
Smith was born in Roodhouse, Illinois.
After attending high school he completed a special two year curriculum at the Institute of Aviation, University of Illinois. He joined the United States Air Force and in June 1957, graduated from Air Force Pilot Training.
He later flew the F-86F, the F-100 and then the F-104. He volunteered for combat duty and in September 1965 was flying the F-104C with the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron based at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam. On 20 September 1965 Captain Smith was flying his F-104C #56-883 on a mission to escort an European Commission-121 over the Gulf of Tonkin when due to equipment failure and incorrect navigational commands he strayed into Chinese airspace over Hainan.
His aircraft was intercepted and shot down by two Shenyang J-6 fighters of the People"s Liberation Army Naval Air Force.
Captain Smith ejected successfully and was captured by PLA forces. He was first taken to Canton for interrogation and then later transferred to Peking.
Most of his captivity was spent in solitary confinement. However, he did meet John T. Downey and Richard Fecteau both of whom were Central Intelligence Agency agents captured in 1952.
Due to improving United States-China relations following President Richard Nixon"s historic 1972 visit to China, Captain Smith was released on 15 March 1973, crossing the land border into the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong.
Smith returned to United States Air Force duty and retired with the rank of Colonel in December 1996.