A Few Words About Earl Smith
Posted by JimI want to say a few words about my friend Earl Smith on this Memorial Day. Earl shared a suite with me for about six months in 1966 when both of us were learning to be Marine platoon commanders. If he had lived, and not run up that dry stream bed that January day and crossed paths with some frightened 18-year peasant with an AK-47, we would be fast friends today. I know this to betrue. His dogged optimism, unwavering loyalty and general good humor were traits I loved them and would cherish today. Earl was the kind of guy who thought drawing the ham-and-mothers meal was not such a bad deal.
He was a good friend and our common experience and brief friendshipmeans something to me 43 years later. Others, on this weekend, should recognize the ideaof Earl, one whose personal courage and commitment was in stark contrast to my ambivalence and uncertainty about that adventure. The hardest thing for me to swallow is knowing it was all for nothing. Had another course been chosen would your life be any different today?
