War & Locale: World War II -- Pacific Theater Date of Birth: By
Ashley Clary The laugh-worn eyes of Arthur B. Smith hide a
courageous yet triumphant story. Not only did he face the
dangers of the 1942 Bataan Death March and three years in a
Japanese prisoner of war camp, he went on to lead a productive
and fulfilling life. Smith was born June 14, 1919, to José
Padilla Smith and Isabel Britton Smith in Santa Fe, N.M. Neither
of his parents received more than a third-grade education. One
of eight brothers and sisters who grew up in Santa Fe, Smith
graduated from high school and joined the military in 1940. As a
member of the New Mexico National Guard’s 200th Coast Artillery
Regiment (Anti-aircraft), Smith and his fellow guardsmen were
sent to military base Clark Field in the Philippines in November
of 1941 to train Filipinos. It was a doomed assignment. The
Japanese simultaneously surprised attacked U.S. troops at Pearl
Harbor and Clark Field on Dec. 7 of that year. The only weaponry
Smith’s division and the in