Billy Walker Smith is our decorated WWII soldier and father featured today.

Billy later became a member of company “F” of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and spent time in Evansville, Indiana during the spring/summer of 1943 as part of the Tennessee maneuvers in preparations for the D Day invasion. I believe that my father, David Tharp (Comes A Soldier’s Whisper) was most likely at these maneuvers, as Dad lived in Petersburg, Indiana and was also in the 101st airborne training. Although they were in the same regiment, they were in different companies. There were a total of 4 companies of the 502nd in Evansville.

Bill met and married his sweetheart while the 502 was stationed near the airport at Evansville, IN. He was born in 1923 in Princeton, KY but lived in Fulton Co, Ohio prior to joining the army and was one of the original members of the elite Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne when it was formed in 1942.

The following link shares information about the 502nd time in Evansville.
http://www.swopes.org/pdf/The502InMcCutchanville.pdf

Our fathers, Billy Walker Smith and David Tharp with thousands of others were on sea transport to England from January to March 1944. They would stay in England barracks until parachuting into Normandy in June 1944. Six days after jumping into Normandy the night before the D-day landing, Billy was badly wounded on June 12, 1944 and taken prisoner by the Germans. He spent the remainder of the war at Stalag 4B, Mulhberg, which was mainly a POW, camp for British Airmen. His son, Keith Smith remembers that his father hardly ever spoke of the war but did say when captured he was to be shot. However the German Paratroopers took control of the prisoners and stopped it.

Keith did some research a few years ago and found a member of his company who remembered his father and even sent him a photo taken of him at Ft Bragg with some other members cleaning their weapons. He was surprised that Billy Walker survived the war as he just assumed he had been killed when the rest of the company returned to England in August 1944. Billy and other prisoners did not walk out of that prison until April of 1945. He would discover only a month before his release that he had a son (born May 1944). Billy’s wife actually notified the war department of his newfound status when the Red Cross was able to get a letter out to her from him sometime in early 1945. Up to that time, he was listed missing in action since being captured in June of 1944.

Billy Walker Smith went on to make Evansville, Indiana his home and had 3 more children. He built houses and eventually started his own Aluminum Siding business and resumed life as a civilian. But war changes a soldier. It changes his family too… As time pushed forward, apparently the trauma of Billy’s past war experiences stepped forward along with some heavy drinking and later a divorce. He remarried and after hurricane Camille hit the Mississippi gulf coast in 1969, he moved down there and started a remodeling business. He eventually ended up in New Orleans restoring buildings in the French Quarter.

In his later years he did mellow out and only drank occasionally. After he was diagnosed with colon cancer he moved back to Evansville so he could get treatments at the Marion, IL Veterans Hospital and to be with his grand kids. Keith, his son who lived nearby with his wife and 3 daughters would drive him to the hospital and back once every couple weeks. Billy would say to his son that he had brought back demons with him from the war that he could never shake. He said he was proud of himself and his paratrooper buddies for their toughness in defeating the Germans. But he also confided that he was not proud of his civilian life and the way he treated their mother and all his children.

Bill passed away in August of 1987, right after his 64th birthday. His widow and stepmother to his children gave his Purple Heart to his son, Keith Smith who was kind enough to provide the information and photos for this article. Keith said his father would be shocked to find books about his companies’ exploits in WW2 and would be further shocked to see a video game named after the company. What a world!

Let us stand in silence for this decorated Purple Heart recipient and give this soldier of our past an eternal salute of gratitude for our future.

Jenny Tharp La Sala
Proud Airborne Daughter
www.comesasoldierswhisper.com

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