Editor's note: This is part of a series of interviews with World War II veterans. The articles will continue in each day's edition until May 28, prior to the World War II Memorial Dedication and Recognition Day, May 29.

In November 1999, Albert Guy Smith recounted for the Times-Union actions that led to his being decorated with two Bronze Stars in World War II.

Bronze Stars are awarded for heroic and meritorious achievement of service, not involving aerial flight, in connection with operations against an opposing armed force.

Smith was a bazooka man for the Army's 255th Infantry Regiment, A Company, (the Blood and Fire regiment) of the 63rd Infantry Division, Seventh Army.

The first Bronze Star came Jan. 3, 1945, when Smith and his first sergeant "captured" a German tank. "It turned out it was abandoned and out of gas, but we didn't know that the first time we saw it."

Also that winter Smith's patrol leader tucked him into a German foxhole. Smith's left leg was giving out due to a training injury.

"They said they would come back to get me in the morning," he said.

"Very early the next morning, I was awakened by a strange voice. It was a German voice, and he was saying, 'American, American, American.'"

The German was a field artillery officer who wanted to surrender. After disarming his prisoner, Smith marched him the two or three miles back to the American lines. And the second Bronze Star was awarded.

"I still have his gun, holster and ammo clips," Smith, 88, said from his Alward Street home in Warsaw.

Smith graduated from Marion Center High School in 1944. Two weeks later, he was in the Army, a draftee.

Not trusting his memory, Smith presented a couple of books, "The 63rd Infantry Division Chronicles" and "With The 63rd Infantry Division In World War II" by Col. James Hatcher, as a reminder of events.

Following basic training at Camp Blanding, Fla., and training at Camp Van Dorn, Miss., the 63rd Infantry was loaded onto the MSS Sea Tiger in New York and crossed the Atlantic in 11 days.

After landing at Marseille, France, Dec. 8, 1944, the division was charged with bolstering the veteran units already in position.

They traveled by rail to Oberhoffen and were assigned to defensive positions along the Rhine River, Dec. 22, 1944.

Although everyone had removed identification patches from their uniforms so the enemy didn't know when reinforcements had arrived, the Germans fired leaflets welcoming the 63rd Infantry to the front one day. Included in the literature was a rendering of the gold sword on a fiery red background - the Blood and Fire Insignia.

The 18-year-old Pvt. Smith was put forward to seek out enemy machine gun placements and artillery stations.

The 255th battled for villages, small towns and wooded areas throughout that winter starting in the Alsace-Lorraine region of France.

They often found themselves attacked by German foot soldiers on one side and tanks on the other as they fought toward the Seigfried Line. They would withdraw and go forward and repeat the process again and again.

Europe's 1944-45 winter was the most severe in 25 years. The Battle of the Bulge was fought in the worst of conditions. Soaking wet from crossing streams or the snow, the troops' clothing would be frozen to their skins by dawn. Fires for warmth were forbidden because the light would draw enemy fire.

By Jan. 25, 1945, the 255th had just crossed the Blind River, in Germany, and spent the coldest night of the winter laying on the ground, held down by enemy machine gun fire.

In February 1954, Smith was hit in the right leg with shrapnel and spent three weeks in the hospital. He was hit again shortly thereafter. He also lost 75 percent of the hearing in his right ear. He was awarded two Purple Hearts.

The battalion spent four days fighting for the town of Jebsheim, Germany, where more than 500 German soldiers were taken prisoner.

The division's journal described Jebsheim as a slaughterhouse.

Often Smith's captain, Robert S. Young, went with him on reconnaissance. He was also accompanied by 1st Sgt. Gideon Wilson. His ammunition carrier was Adam Polgierski.

"I was always way out in front. Why I survived I don't know to this day." Before the end of the war, Wilson died of his wounds and Young was killed in action.

Wilson, Smith maintains, was unjustly busted to private because he wouldn't get a canteen of water for a certain first lieutenant.

The 63rd Infantry had pushed its way to the Siegfried Line by mid-March. Composed of concrete pyramids about 3 feet high, the defensive line had three staggered rows of "dragon's teeth." The barrier was lined with anti-tank ditches, 8 feet deep and 12 feet wide. Overlooking the situation were the deadly German-manned pillboxes, bristling with artillery.

The 63rd was the first division of the Seventh Army to effect a complete breakthrough of the Siegfried Line.

Smith served the seventh army headquarters, established in Waldenburg, Germany, after VE day, May 8, 1945.

After the war, he continued to re-enlist in the reserves, reaching the rank of tech sergeant in 1952. Later that year he graduated from Ball State and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

He and his German-born wife, Paula, married Oct. 3, 1948.

"The best 16 years of my life were the ones I was connected with the Army," said Smith, a retired teacher, who retired as a captain in 1960.

"We were all family. I'd go back today if they would ask me. I enjoyed what I was doing and I did more than I was asked to do." [[In-content Ad]]