Andrew David Smith

The database page for Andrew David Smith

20 Mar 2005 My name is Gordon Wofford and I was with Lt Smith, our Company Commander, on May 28, 1970, the day he was killed in action in the Kingdom of Cambodia. He was approximately 10 feet in front of me when the fire fight started. He was the first one hit with hostile fire. He was hit with multiple gun shot wounds, and I believe he died instantly. Sp 4 Ronald Krebsbach, Medic, also was killed that day while helping me after I was wounded. I was critically wounded along with five of my other comrades. Every day I think of LT Smith, and the ultimate sacrifice he gave for his country. The Vietnam Veterans came home with no parades. LT Smith, I remember your bravery and the life you gave for our country. You did not die in vain. May God Bless your Family. From one of his Sergeants, Charles Gordon Wofford MEMORIAL DAY 2006 This memorial day two thousand and six. Thirty six years, I remember, but why the tears? I remember the morning fog. The clean smell of a new day. The visions remain, along with the pain. Awakened in Cambodia, AMBUSH! was the shout! A resounding blast, of claymores going out. May day... two lives lost. No greater love has man for his brother, our lives forever changed, to sorrow and pain. Instant death, step and a half. Others wounded, that day in May. Survivors, never the same. Our youth we lost. Young lives the cost. Intense pain, but no gain! The images, the sounds, embedded in our souls. A day has not passed. The Horrors! Forever last. Lt. Smith, five steps in front. Seventeen rounds he took. I watched him fall. Instant death, that's all. Doc and I forever bonded, wounded in his arms, two rounds he took. Never again will he look. Sgt. Gilbertson screaming, among the dead and dying. We were all MANCHUS. Intense fire! I remember, do you? Gods knows. I wonder why? I was chosen to survive. My choice was to die. I did nothing to survive. My guilt remains. My life to reclaim. America must not forget. A nation's regret. May twenty eight, nineteen seventy. All MANCHUS. Heros all. In memory of Sp 4 "Doc" Krebsbach and 1st Lt. Smith KIA I remember D Co, 4th Bn, 9th Inf Rgt. (Manchu), 25th Inf. Div. Written by Sgt. C. G. Wofford, US Army (Retired) From a Blood Brother in Arms., Charles Gordon Wofford pswflash@dellmail.com

A Note from The Virtual Wall Delta 4/9 Infantry lost two men killed during a firefight in Cambodia on 28 May 1970: 1LT Andrew D. Smith, Wakefield, RI, and SP4 Ronald A. Krebsbach, St Paul, MN. Although officially assigned to the HQ Company, SP4 Krebsbach was in the field with Delta Company.

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With all respect
Jim Schueckler, former CW2, US Army
Ken Davis, Commander, United States Navy (Ret)
Memorial first published on 20 Mar 2005
Last updated 08/10/2009