George L. Smith, 41, personnel officer, helped to save Jeffrey N. Damp from possible death from exposure, Mount Washington, New Hampshire, March 24-25, 1968. (See case of CHARLES T. PORTER, JR.)
51064 – 5600
51064-5600Obituary
George Lawrence Smith, 85, of Augusta, Maine, died on July 22, 2011.
Smith received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star for heroism during the Battle of the Bulge in Luxembourg in World War II. During one battle, Smith’s unit had nearly run out of ammunition and he and a comrade got in a Jeep and drove for more. On the way back to the front lines, Smith was severely wounded when a mortar shell exploded next to the vehicle.
Years later, a winter rescue of stranded climbers on Mount Washington in New Hampshire further demonstrated Smith’s courage. He scaled a wall of ice in the middle of the night to help a stranded climber and a rescuer. He received the Carnegie Hero Fund’s Carnegie Medal for the March 1968 rescue.
He was buried at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Augusta.
(Edited from an obituary in the Portland Press Herald, Aug. 1, 2011.)