D oyle Byron Smith was born March 31, 1923, in Marysville, Idaho. He was the ninth of ten children to be born to David and Rosie Smith. The family was living east of Marysville on leased farmland near Warm River, Idaho, in the western foothills of the Grand Teton Range. When his birth was imminent, mother and father journeyed to see a Doctor in Marysville, and this is where Doyle was born.

Warm River, 1999, near the Smith homestead of the 1920's

The old Osgood School where Doyle attended grade school, as it appeared in 1999

There is not much known of his childhood, but no doubt he was cared for by his mother and sisters especially while chores were underway. The family lived in Warm River until 1927, when they moved to Osgood, just north and west of Idaho Falls, Idaho. Father David became employed on Utah and Idaho Sugar farmland.

Doyle and his older brother Carroll (by one year) were compelled to work on the dry farm and to tend cattle while in Osgood. They both had sparkling senses of humor and liked to have fun, as would any young boys. Doyle attended the old Osgood school, which is still standing as of 2000. He attended high school in Ammon Idaho, which was on the eastern side of Idaho Falls, and required a long bus trip. It was there he met an early sweetheart, a Miss A. Nielsen, with whom he contrasted severely. He was interested in sports and fun, and she was interested in drama and music. Doyle was aggressive, and was on the boxing team.

The Smith Family Home near Idaho Falls

The Ammon High School Boxing Team is pictured above. Doyle is Second from the right on the front row.

In Doyle's junior year, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. His class filed solemnly into an assembly room to hear president Roosevelt's famous and stern address of war. It would be difficult to guess Doyle's thoughts; although in an interview in the Ammon High newsletter Highlights of 1942, his Christmas wish was to "own a boat, and not a small one, if you know what I mean!" He probably wanted to become involved in the fight.

The graduating class of
Ammon High School, 1942

Doyle's relationship with Miss Nielsen was explosive. Although they were engaged to be married after high school, they eventually separated. This decision was initiated by Doyle. Although there are theories as to why they separated, it may never be known. Miss Nielsen later married, but did not speak of Doyle until on her deathbed in 1995, when she revealed that they had been engaged.

The master mechanic and farmer

After graduation, Doyle worked on the farm during the summers, and worked at Hill Air Force base in Ogden, Utah during the winters. He wanted to go into the service; and attempted to enlist. At first he was told to stay on the farm and raise crops for the troops.

America's finest on parade, Camp Shelby, 1940's

He failed an army physical, apparently due to an ear drum ailment, or possibly, due to severe color-blindness. He reportedly failed a physical a second time. On the third attempt, he was able to enlist.

Camp Shelby in 1944

He reported to Fort Douglas, Utah, on December 3, 1944. He failed initial tests as a paratrooper due to his color blindness. He was transferred to Camp Shelby, Mississippi, where he met his closest army buddy, also from Idaho, Keith Wheatley. He was thus in the 65^th infantry division and was at Camp Shelby for six months completing basic training. It rained much in Mississippi during those six months.

The uniform of the 65th, Camp Shelby, Mississippi

In May of 1944 he received a four week furlough, and traveled to see his parents, Rosie and David, and other family members who had moved to Vancouver, Washington. At the time, father David was building liberty ships at the gigantic Kaiser shipyards.

Doyle dated several young ladies that he met at his church while in Vancouver. But his visit in Vancouver lasted only two weeks. As he was leaving on a train from Portland Oregon, his eldest brother counseled him and, in an apparent desperate effort, tried to convince Doyle to stay. This, of course, would have been foolhardy as it would have amounted to a desertion from the army.

Doyle traveled from Vancouver south and east to Idaho Falls for the last two weeks of his furlough, where he visited with two other brothers living there at the time. On mothers day of 1944 he addressed his church congregation, delivering a mother’s day oration. That afternoon, his brother Carroll drove him to the train station in Pocatello Idaho. Final photographs were taken, and Doyle boarded the train for Camp Shelby. They would not see him alive again.

Pvt. Doyle Smith
Farewell at the train depot
Mother's day, May, 1944

The caption to the right reads
"A lonely way to spend an evening"

Above are Arthur Serabian and Doyle Smith

Soon after returning to Camp Shelby, he was transferred, along with others, including Keith Wheatley, to Fort Jackson in South Carolina, where he joined the 328^th regiment of the 26^th infantry division. He was in Company L, as was Keith Wheatley. Rumors abounded in Fort Jackson, and there was some level of secrecy as to what would happen next to the 328^th infantry division.

A postcard of New York City from 1945

The rumors eventually led to action; the entire division was transferred to Camp Shanks, New York for two weeks. Doyle had much fun while there, seeing movies, sightseeing, and he had a short romance. The division knew they would be leaving for Europe, and so the night before their departure, they celebrated. Some soldiers went to nightclubs, including the famous Latin Quarter, and some went to Coney Island. There is no record of Doyle's activities on that night.

The day of departure, on or around August 28th, and in the early morning the entire division was moved, in some level of secrecy, to ships waiting somewhere in New York harbor. The ship slipped out of the harbor with all the infantry hidden inside. They sailed out to sea, and joined a flotilla of nearly 50 ships. On the flanks of the flotilla were navy vessels there specifically to protect the precious infantry inside the troop carriers traveling down the center of the convoy. The ship he was on was the "Henry Gibbons." The chow was so-so, the sea was rough at first, and, among other activities, there were boxing matches. It is likely that Doyle boxed, but this can’t be verified. Of course, many were quite seasick.

The division landed on Utah Beach in France on September 7 in the late hours. It was raining heavily. The soldiers' gear was trucked to a staging area while they hiked hours into the night to their encampment in orchards arranged in the hedgerows. Occasionally there was an aircraft flying overhead; many thought that it was possibly enemy aircraft.

The famous Red Ball express had recently begun, and the trucks in the 26th division were sequestered. It was a giant and continuous convoy of trucks arcing across northern France and carrying goods (especially fuel) for Patton's Army in eastern France. Doyle volunteered for this activity, as did other's who knew how to drive. Others who did not know how to drive were positioned at various places on the Carentan Peninsula for miscellaneous duties.

The Red Ball express was difficult and dangerous. Travel at night was without headlights; only low level lights were used. Each truck had three drivers, and each driver had an eight hour shift. Vehicles drove nearly bumper to bumper, and there was no stopping. When the convoy passed through a town, the pace was quickened, which added to the danger.

A tour of duty in the Red Ball express usually lasted two to three weeks. Sometime after these tours of duty, there was rumor as to where the 26th would go next. Some said they would join the seventh army and proceed down France to rout-out the enemy. On October 4th, the entire division began a two-day cross-country trek, spending the night in Fountainbleau, and Arriving in the early morning of the 6th of October in Pont-a-Mousson in Eastern France. It was Patton's plan that the 26th be battle hardened for an eventual and decisive thrust into Germany. Thus, the 26th infantry division joined the famous Third Army of General George S. Patton.

The division moved quickly through different assignments in the Area. Company "L" set up a patrol/reconnaissance near the town of Cheminot. One evening in that area, several men from an adjacent company were ordered on patrol into German occupied Cheminot. Of the six, four didn't return.

Company "L" did not yet see direct battle, and had only served in reserve. They were moved several times again, back through Pont-a-Mousson, and then were moved on a 26 mile motor-march to the south. The march followed the front of the enemy territory in the contested province of Lorraine. The route took them to Arraucourt, near where Patton had his command post established, and then on to Bezange. By now, most of France had been liberated; it was in eastern France where fighting continued as the third army continued to advance into German territory.

On or around the 24th of October, the 328th infantry division relieved the 104th infantry division just to the west of, and up-slope of, the Moncourt Woods. The 104th had just completed a devasting firefight, and at least one company of the 104th was nearly decimated. Company "L" of the 328th relieved one of these companies of the 104th. It was at night, and Doyle and his buddies followed a white ribbon through the blackness of the night, down the slope, and into position into some foxholes.

The Moncourt Woods had been nicknamed the "Forest of Death." Mortars were continually bursting overhead, and pieces of metal would fly all around. Doyle and his foxhole buddy found a piece of metal covering to place over the foxhole. They were at the front of the foxholes, closest to the enemy. In front of them was a trail running north to south, and in front of that was open fields used for agriculture. Adjacent to and north of the foxholes was an old WWI trench. Part of the trench are still visible as of June, 2000. It rained and rained; the foxholes were muddy and filling with water. It was miserable, a living hell.

The Germans began broadcasting propaganda on November 2nd, offering warm meals and beds to the American soldiers if they would surrender. The Germans knew the names of the commanders of the 26th infantry division, which probably came as a bit of a shock.

Fall was in the air, and the trees were nearly leafless. It was difficult to remain hidden, especially in the daylight hours. On the afternoon of November 3rd, when desperately in need of water, Doyle left his foxhole to quickly get water from an adjacent depression. A German sniper took aim and fired. A bullet found a mark on his left abdomen somewhere below his heart and groin. "I've been hit," he screamed. He did not live long; first the shock set in, and then he died shortly after as medics made their way to his position to carry him out. The men's hearts sank into despair as he was carried, ashen, past their foxholes. He was the first to die in Company "L,"

Doyle did not suffer in death. His sargent, still living as of July, 2002, has assured Doyle's family that he passed quickly.

Final Rest, Fielding Memorial Park

Doyle was buried the next day, November 4th, in the Andilly Military Cemetery of Eastern France. It was opened in September of 1944, and at the end of the war cradled the bodies of more than 3,000 soldiers of the Third Army. In 1949 the U.S. Government offered to move these sacred military dead from France to the United States, or have them moved to the Saint Avold Cemetery in eastern France. Doyle's family opted to have him repatriated to the land of his youth in southeast Idaho. Today he rests in the Fielding Memorial cemetery just south of Idaho Falls next to his parents and a younger brother.

To the left is a poem enjoyed by Private Smith

Life holds so much variety
   Before death shuts his eyes,
A man can work and hope to be
   Clever and rich and wise;

Loyal and honest, brave and true,
    Cheerful and broad of mind;
Strong for the tasks he has to do;
    Patient, considerate, kind.

The lives of many each must touch,
    So varied in life's plan,
We seldom realize how much
    It takes to be a man.
-- EDGAR A. GOEST