Carl Smith was born in January 1928 in Pittsburg, Georgia. It was a coal mining town. He had three sisters and four brothers. Smith was the oldest. He grew up in the Pittsburg area. He went to school in northwestern Georgia. His father worked in the coal mines and farmed during the Depression [Annotator's Note: Great Depression; a global economic depression that lasted through the 1930s]. Smith was 14 years old when the war started in 1941. He tried to join the Navy, but his father had to sign the papers because he was only 17 years old in 1945. He turned 18 years old in January 1946. He was drafted after his 18th birthday. He passed the examination. He joined the Army in 1947. After he joined the Army, he got married. Then he went home and worked for a sawmill. After a while, he decided to rejoin the Army Air Force. He was shipped to an Air Force base in Tennessee. He was an MP [Annotator's Note: military police] while he was in the Army. When he was in the Air Force, he was an MP. He was sent to New Jersey for further assignment. Then he was sent to Vienna, Austria. He was 20 miles outside of the Russian zone. He was there for three years. Smith returned to the United States in 1954. He was sent to Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia.

Carl Smith re-enlisted in the Air Force. He was sent to Lookout Mountain [Annotator’s Note: Lookout Mountain, Georgia]. He was there for two years and was then transferred to Ontario, Canada. He had to get permission to bring his family up there. The base was down a dirt road. It was a remote place. If he had family there, he had to stay for two years. In 1960, he went to Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. He stayed there for four years. He was sent to Thailand for a year. Then he was shipped back to the States [Annotator’s Note: United States] to Orlando, Florida where he retired. In December 1969 he retired after 20 years. He lives in the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Sometimes World War 2 veterans move into the home. He discusses how people can be eligible to live in the home. He discusses how the VA [Annotator's Note: United States Department of Veterans Affairs; also referred to as the Veterans Administration] works.

Carl Smith had three sons. They all live in Georgia. He has six grandchildren and some great-grandchildren as well. In 1947, they gave out pins for their service. He was considered a World War 2 veteran in 1957. He retired as a Technical Sergeant. He worked as a security police. He worked near some nuclear weapons. He went to Orlando [Annotator’s Note: Orlando, Florida] to an Air Force Base. There was a naval training base at the Great Lakes [Annotator's Note: Naval Station Great Lakes in Lake County, Illinois]. Their main job was flying over Vietnam in 1966 [Annotator's Note: Vietnam War, or Second Indochina War, 1 November 1955 to 30 April 1975]. They would bomb bridges. It was to harass the North Vietnamese.

Carl Smith is glad he served his country. He is glad he was in the military. He is glad to live in the Armed Forces Retirement Home. He has a lot of benefits. He is close to shopping places and a major hospital. He had to have a few operations done on his internal organs. He had to be in rehabilitation for several months.