Looking back on 90 years: A WWII vet shares his story
Kat Russell, Photojournalist
Kentucky New Era
November 10, 2013
http://www.kentuckynewera.com/living/article_b2e5a6ea-4a97-11e3-83ce-001a4bcf887a.html
To look at him, no one would guess that Kenneth R. Smith was one week shy of turning 90 years old. Sitting on the couch in his son and daughter-in-law’s quaint country-style living room, Ken is a man who is full of life, laughter and colorful stories.
“Tell her about the story the preacher told Daddy,” said his daughter-in-law, Debbie.
Ken chuckles and a boyish look settles across his face. He starts to tell the story of when he and his buddy were sitting on the deck of the USS Pastuers — the ship he served on when in the Navy — chewing tobacco.
Without their knowledge, the captain had come out on deck and was standing behind them. This created a problem because at that moment, Ken spit out some tobacco juice and the glob caught in the wind and hit his captain smack in the face.
Ken laughed and laughed as he finished the story. “I swear it’s the truth,” he exclaimed.
In between giggles, Debbie chimed in and said their preacher told that same story in a sermon once while Ken sat in the pew red-faced, suppressing his laughter.
Born Nov. 18, 1923, in Armathwaite, Tenn., a small English town in Fentress County, Ken was the oldest of seven children and grew up in a two-room log cabin.
He described his parents as “good country folk.” His father was a man of few words who worked as a coal miner and later in a sawmill. His mother was “as quiet as an angel,” he said.
Ken went to high school at the York Agricultural Institute in Jamestown, Tenn., where when he graduated in 1942, Sgt. Alvin C. York, the school’s founder and one of the highest-decorated veterans of World War I, handed him his diploma.
At the age of 19, Ken enlisted in the Navy.
It was 1943, the middle of World War II, and Ken knew his number was going to be called up, drafting him into the Army. Not wanting to be an infantryman, Ken opted for the Navy where he served for “three years, three months and 9 days,” he said.
The ship Ken served on was a food carrier that had been converted from a wooden-decked banana boat. He was a second-class storekeeper and his job was to do “everything that somebody else didn’t do.”
Ken spent about two years living on that boat. He served in the South Pacific during the Battle of Midway and in the Caribbean.
Being on a food carrier, Ken didn’t see much combat. His son, David Smith, explained that Ken’s ship was a supply ship.
“They would go to a battle location and drop anchor, “ David said. “And ships would come to them and get supplies. So they were at battle sites, but not involved in the battles.”
“But we were there when (troops) were being bombed, and we saw them get bombed which was terrible,” Ken followed up.
Ken said there was nothing that could have prepared him for war. He had never traveled before, never lived apart from his family and suddenly found himself living on a ship with approximately 300 men who had come from all over the country.
Fortunately for him, the Navy kept him busy with daily tasks, strict schedules and lots and lots of work.
“I didn’t have time to miss my family or think about being homesick,” he said. “There was always something that had to be done … You can’t prepare for war. You just have to do what you’re told, follow orders and trust the others.”
Simply put, yes, but Ken said his parents were simple people with the same “such as life” outlook, which served him well in the face of the drastic life changes he was experiencing.
Although his ship was never sent into direct combat, Ken said he did see a little bit of action during his three years in the service.
One memory that stuck out to him was when his ship was part of a 29-ship flotilla coming out of Trinidad all in a line. German submarines began attacking the boats from the rear. They sunk 14 ships. Ken was on the 15th ship.
From the 14 sunken ships, each averaging a crew of 100 to 150 men, eight men were saved — six seamen and two officers.
“All you could see was fire behind us,” he said.
Despite it being a horrible experience to live through, Ken said it did not scar him.
“It was just one of those things that happened, and we had to pick up and keep going,” he said.
Ken went on to say that the worst incident he had ever seen was the not-commonly-known second disaster at Pearl Harbor, which happened in 1944 — less than three years after the Japanese attacked the harbor in 1941.
Ken was fuzzy about the details, but he remembered the aftermath, seeing body parts floating in the water as his ship pulled into the harbor.
The incident happened on May 21, 1944, and to this day, the cause is still uncertain.
Twenty-nine tank-landing ships were being prepared for major battle as the U.S. was planning a major attack on Saipan. Something went wrong and one of the ships exploded, causing a chain reaction of explosions, killing nearly 200 men and injuring close to 400.
“Seeing that was really tough,” he said. “That was one of hardest things for me.”
In 1945, Ken was discharged from the Navy and returned to civilian life, but first he had to find his way home from San Francisco.
Being the adventurous type, Ken opted to hitchhike across the country, which took him about five days (two of which he spent in Los Angeles) and 37 car rides.
When he arrived in Tennessee, he enrolled at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville as an agriculture major. He went to school on the GI Bill and was the first member of his family to finish college, which he did in three years.
While in college, he met Betty Lou Carney, whom he later married. Ken and Betty Lou had four children: David, a daughter and two who died at birth.
After he graduated, Ken took a job with the Tennessee Farmers Co-op, where he worked his way up the ladder from the warehouse to the front office.
Later he went to work for Ortho Chemical Company in Evansville, Ind. There he met a man named Berl Shimel, who would become his future business partner.
Together, Ken and Shimel came to Christian County, where they opened several agricultural businesses. The first was Farm and Garden Supply on Fort Campbell Boulevard, which they later sold.
They then opened the Ag Supply Company, which is still in operation today under different ownership. Finally, they opened Motor Power on West 15th Street which they later sold as well.
Today, Ken lives on his own in an apartment in Hopkinsville, not far from David and Debbie. His wife, Betty Lou, died in April 2006.
He is an active member at Second Baptist Church, where he has been teaching Sunday school classes for about 55 years, and he likes to garden, growing produce during the summer.
Having lived so much of life and seen and done so many things, Ken said his dad gave him a motto when he was a boy that still sticks with him and guides him today,
“He said ‘Son, if you remember to treat people like you’d like to be treated, you’ll never go wrong,’ and that has served me well during my life.”
Reach Kat Russell at 270-887-3241 or krussell@kentuckynewera.com.
“Tell her about the story the preacher told Daddy,” said his daughter-in-law, Debbie.
Ken chuckles and a boyish look settles across his face. He starts to tell the story of when he and his buddy were sitting on the deck of the USS Pastuers — the ship he served on when in the Navy — chewing tobacco.
Without their knowledge, the captain had come out on deck and was standing behind them. This created a problem because at that moment, Ken spit out some tobacco juice and the glob caught in the wind and hit his captain smack in the face.
Ken laughed and laughed as he finished the story. “I swear it’s the truth,” he exclaimed.
In between giggles, Debbie chimed in and said their preacher told that same story in a sermon once while Ken sat in the pew red-faced, suppressing his laughter.
Born Nov. 18, 1923, in Armathwaite, Tenn., a small English town in Fentress County, Ken was the oldest of seven children and grew up in a two-room log cabin.
He described his parents as “good country folk.” His father was a man of few words who worked as a coal miner and later in a sawmill. His mother was “as quiet as an angel,” he said.
Ken went to high school at the York Agricultural Institute in Jamestown, Tenn., where when he graduated in 1942, Sgt. Alvin C. York, the school’s founder and one of the highest-decorated veterans of World War I, handed him his diploma.
At the age of 19, Ken enlisted in the Navy.
It was 1943, the middle of World War II, and Ken knew his number was going to be called up, drafting him into the Army. Not wanting to be an infantryman, Ken opted for the Navy where he served for “three years, three months and 9 days,” he said.
The ship Ken served on was a food carrier that had been converted from a wooden-decked banana boat. He was a second-class storekeeper and his job was to do “everything that somebody else didn’t do.”
Ken spent about two years living on that boat. He served in the South Pacific during the Battle of Midway and in the Caribbean.
Being on a food carrier, Ken didn’t see much combat. His son, David Smith, explained that Ken’s ship was a supply ship.
“They would go to a battle location and drop anchor, “ David said. “And ships would come to them and get supplies. So they were at battle sites, but not involved in the battles.”
“But we were there when (troops) were being bombed, and we saw them get bombed which was terrible,” Ken followed up.
Ken said there was nothing that could have prepared him for war. He had never traveled before, never lived apart from his family and suddenly found himself living on a ship with approximately 300 men who had come from all over the country.
Fortunately for him, the Navy kept him busy with daily tasks, strict schedules and lots and lots of work.
“I didn’t have time to miss my family or think about being homesick,” he said. “There was always something that had to be done … You can’t prepare for war. You just have to do what you’re told, follow orders and trust the others.”
Simply put, yes, but Ken said his parents were simple people with the same “such as life” outlook, which served him well in the face of the drastic life changes he was experiencing.
Although his ship was never sent into direct combat, Ken said he did see a little bit of action during his three years in the service.
One memory that stuck out to him was when his ship was part of a 29-ship flotilla coming out of Trinidad all in a line. German submarines began attacking the boats from the rear. They sunk 14 ships. Ken was on the 15th ship.
From the 14 sunken ships, each averaging a crew of 100 to 150 men, eight men were saved — six seamen and two officers.
“All you could see was fire behind us,” he said.
Despite it being a horrible experience to live through, Ken said it did not scar him.
“It was just one of those things that happened, and we had to pick up and keep going,” he said.
Ken went on to say that the worst incident he had ever seen was the not-commonly-known second disaster at Pearl Harbor, which happened in 1944 — less than three years after the Japanese attacked the harbor in 1941.
Ken was fuzzy about the details, but he remembered the aftermath, seeing body parts floating in the water as his ship pulled into the harbor.
The incident happened on May 21, 1944, and to this day, the cause is still uncertain.
Twenty-nine tank-landing ships were being prepared for major battle as the U.S. was planning a major attack on Saipan. Something went wrong and one of the ships exploded, causing a chain reaction of explosions, killing nearly 200 men and injuring close to 400.
“Seeing that was really tough,” he said. “That was one of hardest things for me.”
In 1945, Ken was discharged from the Navy and returned to civilian life, but first he had to find his way home from San Francisco.
Being the adventurous type, Ken opted to hitchhike across the country, which took him about five days (two of which he spent in Los Angeles) and 37 car rides.
When he arrived in Tennessee, he enrolled at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville as an agriculture major. He went to school on the GI Bill and was the first member of his family to finish college, which he did in three years.
While in college, he met Betty Lou Carney, whom he later married. Ken and Betty Lou had four children: David, a daughter and two who died at birth.
After he graduated, Ken took a job with the Tennessee Farmers Co-op, where he worked his way up the ladder from the warehouse to the front office.
Later he went to work for Ortho Chemical Company in Evansville, Ind. There he met a man named Berl Shimel, who would become his future business partner.
Together, Ken and Shimel came to Christian County, where they opened several agricultural businesses. The first was Farm and Garden Supply on Fort Campbell Boulevard, which they later sold.
They then opened the Ag Supply Company, which is still in operation today under different ownership. Finally, they opened Motor Power on West 15th Street which they later sold as well.
Today, Ken lives on his own in an apartment in Hopkinsville, not far from David and Debbie. His wife, Betty Lou, died in April 2006.
He is an active member at Second Baptist Church, where he has been teaching Sunday school classes for about 55 years, and he likes to garden, growing produce during the summer.
Having lived so much of life and seen and done so many things, Ken said his dad gave him a motto when he was a boy that still sticks with him and guides him today,
“He said ‘Son, if you remember to treat people like you’d like to be treated, you’ll never go wrong,’ and that has served me well during my life.”
Reach Kat Russell at 270-887-3241 or krussell@kentuckynewera.com.