mypow-mia

Sgt. CURTIS RICHARD SMOOT

Graphic by Ron Fleischer and Doc

Shall I tell my children of wars

Gone by and those yet to be?

I can't begin to know how to

Describe the horror...

For I have never been there.

But I shall talk to them of peace,
Love of country, and freedom.
And never to forget the price that
some have paid for these precious gifts.

Name: Curtis Richard Smoot

Rank/Branch: E5/US

ArmyUnit: Troop A, 1st Squadron,

9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division

Date of Birth: 09 December 1949 Bogaloosa LA

Home City of Record: Varnado LA

Date of Loss: 10 March 1971

Country of Loss: Cambodia

Status (in 1973): Missing in Action

Other Personnel in Incident:

WO1 Craig J. Houser (escaped);

SP4 Robert Kiser(remains recovered)

SYNOPSIS: On March 10, 1971, WO Craig Houser, pilot, SP4 Robert Kiser,

crew chief chief, and Sgt. Curtis R. Smoot door gunner, were flying an OH6A

(serial #67-17412) on a visual reconnaissance mission over Kracheh Province,

Cambodia, just southwest of the city of Phumi Sre Roneam.

At about 1400 hours, while making a low pass over a suspected

enemy position, the helicopter was hit by an enemy rocket and

crashed. The helicopter landed on the bank of a river, burst into

flames, and fell into the river. The crash occurred in the vicinity

of the recon. A team of ARVN and two U.S. Army enlisted men

were inserted into the area to search for survivors and recover

aircraft parts. At that time, the body of SP4 Kiser was recovered.

Due to darkness, the search team was extracted.

On March 13, WO1 Houser returned to military control, having
evaded capture walked to a friendly position. He reported that
he had not seen Sgt. Smoot after the aircraft hit. No sign was ever
found of Sgt. Curtis Smoot, alive or dead. He is listed among nearly
2500 Americans still missing, prisoner or otherwise unaccounted for
in Southeast Asia. When the war ended, 591 Americans were released
from communist prisons in Vietnam, but Smoot was not among them.
Since that time, thousands of reports received have convinced many
authorities that hundreds of Americans are still being held captive in
Southeast Asia. Curtis Smoot could well be one of them.
If so, what must he be thinking of us?

Until the last one is home or accounted for, how can anyone say "it's over?"

My knowledge of Cambodia, where my adoptedPOW/MIA was listed as lost, is

limited, but it is a work in progress. I do know bombings, civil war, and war

with the Vietnamese turned Cambodia into a killing field in 1970.

The 1970-75 war in Cambodia directlyinvolved the United States,
contributed to the downfall of an American president, led to the "killing fields,"
and explains much of what has since happened i n Cambodia.
Yet, because the involvement of the United States in that part of Southeast
Asia was largely clandestine, the American people know little about the fighting
in Cambodia as a small sideshow to the Vietnam War.
In fact, it was a full-scale war in which a small nation, was propelled into one of
history's bloodiest, most brutal periods

Air Evacuation.. BUT MANY WERE LEFT BEHIND....

"Jolly Green Giant" loading wounded and "Mudbugs" photos courtesy of sunsite.unc.edu from Byrd files

"All Biographical and loss information on POWs provided by
Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag
of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates."

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