Rank: Sergeant
Unit: B Troop, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11E – Armor Crewman
Awards: Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Presidential Unit Citation, Valorous Unit Award, Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Regular
Date of birth: 30-Nov-1940
Hometown: Laurens, South Carolina
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Start of tour: 28-Sep-1967
Incident date: 19-Apr-1968
Date of casualty: 19-Apr-1968
Age at death: 27
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Grenade. Multiple fragmentation wounds.
Cary Joseph Smith died from fragment wounds received while on combat operation when engaged hostile force in firefight.
Two Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
SP4 Victor Allen Mohr
SGT Cary Joseph Smith
Location of fatality: Phuoc Long, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Rosemont Cemetery, Clinton, South Carolina, USA
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BRONZE STAR MEDAL
WITH VALOR DEVICE
POSTHUMOUS
SERGEANT CARY JOSEPH SMITH
19 APRIL 1968
B TROOP, 1st SQUADRON
11TH ARMORED CAVALRY REGIMENT
Sergeant Smith distinguished himself by valorous actions on the morning of 19 April 1968, while serving as an Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicle Commander with Troop B, 1st Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, during a reconnaissance-in-force mission in conjunction with Operation Clifton Corral in Phuoc Long Province, Vietnam. When the armored column was taken under intense rocket, automatic weapons and small arms fire from a North Vietnamese Army force, the lead vehicle was completely disabled and its crew sustained numerous casualties. Sergeant Smith immediately moved his armored cavalry assault vehicle forward to shield the wounded crewmembers as they were being evacuated. While directing a heavy volume of suppressive fire from his vehicle’s weaponry against the enemy fortifications, Sergeant Smith was mortally wounded by enemy small arms fire. Sergeant Smith’s personal bravery and devotion to duty were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.
Headquarters, 9th Infantry Division General Orders No. 3574 (19 May 1968)