PFC Richard Duke Smith

PFC Richard Duke Smith was born 26 Sep 1924 in New York, New York. He was the youngest child and only son of the 4 children born to Cyril Hylton and Hilda Frederica (Messado) Smith. His parents and oldest sister had immigrated from Jamaica in 1918. His father was an accountant who worked for various companies earning a reported 1939 income of $4000. The family lived in an apartment at 810 Ocean Avenue in Brooklyn in 1940 for which they paid $60 a month rent. Richard was still a student when he registered for the draft in 1942.

Richard was drafted in July 1943. After his basic military training he was sent to England but was not assigned to G Company 116th Infantry until 22 Jul 1944 when he was transferred from the replacement depot to the unit. Serving as a rifleman, he fought with the unit until 30 Jul 1944 when he was wounded and evacuated to hospital. PFC Smith died of his wound(s) on 3 Aug 1944, in France.

PFC Smith was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Richard's mother died in Bronxville, New York in 1995 at the age of 104.