The Fate of Col. H.E. Smith Sr (MIA): Colonel Smith is also honored at Arlington National Cemetery. This marker was placed before his remains were identified.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/136999814
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SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - Among the six MIA Vietnam War servicemen whose remains were recently recovered is the father of a University of California, San Diego Professor, who will attend his funeral this week. What happened to Air Force Colonel Harding Smith of San Jose, California -- a veteran of World War II and Korea -- has taken 38 years to find out. Now, however, Smith and five other servicemen have been found and identified. In 1966, Harding Smith and his crew were aboard an AC-47 gunship, flying a nighttime mission over southern Laos. Their aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire, and witnesses reported seeing it crash, but an aerial search of the site did not yield any evidence of survivors. “It was fairly heavy jungle area," Gene said. "A call to bail out was heard, but no parachutes were seen and, given what was going on in there, one wasn't certain if you wanted to know if they survived or not." In 1994, searchers found Smith's military identification tag and the card he carried that listed the rules of the Geneva Convention, as well as the aircraft wreckage at the suspected crash site. Less than a year later, some of the human remains of the crew were recovered. "It was pretty weird," said Gene. "Same knot in the stomach, dredging up of a lot of old feelings.... I didn't hold out any hope. I think my mother always did, and that was very difficult for her." Gene is the sole family survivor. He was at Arlington National Cemetery to see his father and fellow crewmen buried with full military honors. The crew of the AC-47, two colonels, a lieutenant colonel, and three chief master sergeants, are reunited forever at Arlington National Cemetery.”
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64717157
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9757040/harding-eugene-smith
http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/48262/HARDING-E-SMITH-SR
https://www.oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:fx71bm17s#page/17/mo... (pg 17)