VIETNAM - SMITH, CARY JOSEPH

Smith, Cary Joseph

VIETNAM - SMITH, CARY JOSEPH
SMITH, CARY JOSEPH

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

View this soldier‘s Find a Grave page (opens in a new window)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial panel and row: 51E 002 (view Vietnam Veterans Memorial link in a new window)

 

BRONZE STAR MEDAL

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)