Rank: Private First Class
Unit: L Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
MOS: 11D – Armor Reconnaissance Specialist
Awards: Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal
Badges: Combat Infantryman Badge
Unit awards: Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm device
Enlisted by: Selected Service
Date of birth: 6-Jun-1947
Hometown: Wayland, New York
Marital status: Never Married
Campaign: Vietnam Conflict
Entered service: 28-Apr-1967
Start of tour: 19-Oct-1967
Incident date: 11-Jan-1968
Date of casualty: 11-Jan-1968
Age at death: 20
Cause of death: Hostile, died. Artillery/Mortar/Rocket. Artillery, rocket, or mortar.
William Paul Smith died when the military vehicle in which he was passenger was hit by a hostile anti-tank round while on combat operation.
Two Blackhorse troopers died as a result of this incident:
PFC William Paul Smith
PFC Robert Andrew Wozniak
Location of fatality: Tay Ninh, South Vietnam
Place of interment: Saint Joseph‘s Cemetery, Wayland, New York, USA
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