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Benjamin A Smith |
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Hudson, Wisconsin |
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November 2, 2005 |
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Killed when an improvised explosive device detonated near their HMMWV near Baghdad, Iraq. |
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| Soldier from Hudson killed in Iraq Army specialist dies in bomb blast with two other American troops By GRAEME ZIELINSKI gzielinski@journalsentinel.com Hudson native Benjamin A. Smith was on his second tour of duty in Iraq and, his father said, enthusiastic to be back. "Because of the personalities that most of these men are, they don't like sitting around at the fort," James Smith said Friday of the youngest of his three children. "The whole group was anxious to go back to finish the work." Having returned to the war only recently, Spc. Smith, 21, was among three soldiers killed Wednesday near Baghdad when a bomb exploded near their Humvee, the Pentagon said Friday. Smith was the 49th Wisconsin member of the military killed in Iraq. A 2002 graduate of Hudson High School, Smith was assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, based at Fort Campbell, Ky. He was killed alongside 22-year-old Spc. Joshua J. Munger of Maysville, Mo., and 20-year-old Pfc. Tyler R. MacKenzie of Evans, Colo., according to the Pentagon. During Smith's high school years, he worked as an apprentice welder at Empire Bucket Inc. in Hudson and as a dog handler at the old St. Croix Meadows greyhound park. "He was a good kid. He was a hard worker. He was a quiet one," said Empire's general manger, Sue Olson. "He was such a skinny kid. The stuff that we work with is so big, and I worry a lot about the younger people." His father, an engineer, said Benjamin Smith was never daunted. "He was always looking for a challenge, whether it was well thought out or not," he said. As a child, he had been active in karate, and in his teens he enjoyed off-road activities, hunting and playing music. He also was active in the Civil Air Patrol. Benjamin Smith always showed an "aptitude" for the military and enlisted in 2003, his desire fueled in part by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, said his father. At the rank of specialist, Smith had been trained in, among other things, the operation of a light machine gun and had been a squad leader during patrols in Iraq. His father said he was aware of the dangers facing troops there. "We talked about it a bit. It's was nothing you could do anything about. Ben was never afraid of anything risky," James Smith said. Other survivors include a brother, a sister and his mother, Lenore Smith, a quilting instructor. Plans for a memorial service had not been finalized Friday, his father said. Correspondent Joe Winter contributed to this report. Benjamin Smith Monday, November 07 2005 @ 08:11 AM EST Contributed by: tomw Views: 681 Pioneer Press -- HUDSON, Wis. — Benjamin Smith's last message home was an e-mail to his older brother Tuesday. A few of his fellow soldiers in Iraq had been injured, but he was OK. A day after writing those assurances, the 21-year-old Hudson native was killed by a roadside bomb. Army Spc. Smith and two other soldiers died in Latafiyah, Iraq, near Baghdad, when the bomb exploded next to their armored Humvee. Smith's family gathered Friday night around their dining room table to talk about the son who liked to work with his hands, who was constantly pushing his physical limits and who had found his calling in the Army. "Going over to Iraq, he got to do his job," Orion Smith, 24, said of his brother. "He wasn't the kind of guy who liked to sit around and do nothing. Being over there was doing something." The Smith family learned of Benjamin's death on Wednesday evening, when an Army officer came to their gray, two-story house to break the news. Since then, the family — father James, mother Lenore, brother Orion and sister Brianna, 22 — has been talking with relatives and mourning the loss of its youngest member. Neighbor Connie Piekarski heard about Smith's death Friday night. Lenore Smith, a quilter by trade, had wrapped herself in a coat and walked through leaf-covered back lawns to tell her. Piekarski said the community 18 miles east of St. Paul will grieve with the family. "He's going to leave a big hole in his mother's and father's heart," said Piekarski, a retired elementary school teacher who once taught Smith at nearby E.P. Rock Elementary. Smith grew up in the house on 11th Street, hunting, fishing and cross-country skiing in the forests and lakes nearby. "He did some of everything," said his father, James Smith, an engineer. Smith graduated from Hudson High School in 2002 and went to work for Empire Bucket in Hudson. The company makes buckets for backhoes and other heavy machinery. "He had seen what routine work life was going to be like and he was interested in the challenge" of the military, his father said. Smith joined the Army as an infantryman in January 2003. He planned to stick with the military and attended assault- and parachute-training school on his way to becoming a Ranger, his mother said. The routine must have been good for Smith: When he enlisted, he stood 6 feet tall. At last measure, he had grown another 2 inches. "The Army did that to him," Lenore Smith said. Seven months after enlisting, he made his first tour of Iraq. "He wanted to go, he was all for it," Orion Smith said. Smith served in the war-torn country from August 2003 until March 2004. He was able to spend the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays this year at home. His unit was redeployed to Iraq, though, five weeks ago. Growing up, Smith liked to work on giant model rockets and split his time between doing karate, playing the cornet and making pottery. A former member of the Minnesota wing of the Civil Air Patrol in Lake Elmo, he took flying lessons while in high school. In his last e-mail to his older brother, Smith let his family know that he was all right, despite the injuries to his peers. He also said he just bought a portable video game system and really needed some new games, his brother recalled from the message. Before they had a chance to buy him any, they learned of his death. The family has yet to begin planning funeral arrangements. "They tell us not to commit until they get him back," James Smith said. He may not know when he'll see his son again, but is sure of one thing: "They were proud of being over there and they were really making a lot of progress." The other two soldiers killed in the attack were Pfc. Tyler MacKenzie, 20, of Evans, Colo., and Spc. Joshua Munger, 22, of Maysville, Mo. All three were assigned to the Army's 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky. Smith was the 48th Wisconsin resident killed while serving in the military in Iraq. |
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