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Dr. Joe
Smith
Most of us have driven west on Highway 21 through "The Marines were sent into the line against the first
Caldwell and noticed the sculptures near the home on the north defensive line, and I remember some guys straggling back to
side of the road. Others have passed the large artwork on Texas our positions. They had been mauled by the Japanese. That
Avenue at Eastgate across from the A &M campus. Probably scared me to death and I stayed that way the entire time. and
most of us have wondered about the artist or the inspiration for I'm not ashamed to say so.
the sculptures or what they represent. The folks in Caldwell "We did a flanking movement and were able to take the
know the artist as Dr. Joe Smith, and if they were born there high ground looking down on and at the back of the Japanes..
from the mid 50's to the mid 80's, he probably helped deliver defense. We shot Japs for sdrne time. There was no pleasim,
them or treated them at sometime during their life. What most in it, but it had to be done. At night most of the encounters with
people don't know is that before the sculptures and before the Japanese were by knife because you didn't want to give
practicing medicine, he was a soldier. away your ffsition by firing your weapon. There were several
Dr. Joe Smith was born in Tennessee but came to Texas times when the Japanese would launch a 'banzai' attack,
to attend college. attempting to bayonet us. but we had superior firepower and
"I was the son of a hellfire- and - brimstone Baptist minis- those attacks failed."
ter and we lived all over the South. When it came time for col- On June 22, Dr. Smith and his men were near the end of
lege, my father wanted me to go to a Baptist college, so 1 the island when combat was declared over and the island
decided to go to the biggest one, Baylor. secured.
"I began attending Baylor in the fall of 1941. On Dec. 7, "I don't think the Japanese heard that pronouncement
1941. I had taken my girlfriend for a picnic at Cameron Park because we continued to come under attack by Japanese,
that Sunday afternoon. When we walked back on the campus, troops and artillery. That night our line was approached by a
we were told about Pearl Harbor. I knew then the coming war Japanese soldier with most of his chin shot off. muttering at
would involve me and most of those around me. I decided I us. I guess, hoping we would end his suffering. Instead, w'
might as well get with the best, so I went to Dallas and joined allowed him through our lines and took him to an aid station.
the Marine Corps. I was allowed, by the Marine Corps, to "The next day, we were to finish our advance to the end•
remain in school until 1943." of the island, but we had lost communication with our tank. I
. In 1943 Dr. Smith was sent to the Southwestern had to leave our lines and go to the tank, which was forward o'
University in Georgetown for training and then to Parris Island, our position. 1 tapped on it with my .45 so he would open his
S.C. — a real "hell hole" according to Dr. Smith. From there he hatch and we could coordinate what we were to do. One of my
was sent to Quantico, Va. to Officers Candidate School, where new men had moved to my left and had exposed himseif on the
he was to graduate and receive his commission. ridge line. He was shot by a sniper in the throat and the bullet
"My girlfriend, now my fiance, had just graduated from passed through him and hit me in the chin."
Baylor and came all the way to Quantico, by herself, to see me "The only think l could think of was that poor Japanesr
commissioned and to get married before I headed overseas. I soldier from the night before, and I remember hoping anti
had duty that day and told her to go to Fredericksburg and get praying that my chin wasn't going to be that bad." Dr. Smith
the marriage license. When I got off duty, she met me, crying was evacuated to a hospital ship for treatrnent. "Years later
her eyes out. She wasn't old enough to get a license. In Virginia pieces of that bullet have worked their way to the surface of m,
you had to be 21, and she was a couple months short. My bud- chin."
dies were to attend my wedding the next day, so we hailed a When Japan surrendered, Dr. Smith stayed in the
cab and the cab driver knew another county clerk and where he Marines and was part of the occupation troops at Tokyo Bav
lived. The clerk said he would open his office in Alexandria, but and in Peking, China. He arrived home in February 1946 He
Z: my fiance would have to type out the license form because he was discharged that spring and returned to Baylor and medical
didn't type. When she typed out the license, she lied about her school under the G.I. Bill. During the Korean War he served in
age and we were married the next day. I guess we have been the Army at Darnell Hospital in San Antonio. He entered private
: illegally hitched all these years." practice in Caldwell in 1953 and has been there since, retiring
Dr. Smith was sent to the Pacific theatre to Russell in 1986.
Island. "Being on call 24/7 was pretty exhausting. So, now I do
ekt.
"We trained doing mock landings on Guadalcanal until my artwork. I don't sell any, I just give it away. It's just some-
''; we were ready to invade Okinawa. When we started for thing that I love to do.
Okinawa, you could see ships clear across the horizon. On Dr. Joe Smith's name can be found on the Brazos Valley
April 1, 1945, we went aboard the landing crafts and headed Veterans Memorial. For more information, to make a contribu-
' for the beach. Much to our surprise, the landing was unop- tion, or if you know a World War II veteran whose story needs
posed." to be told, contact. the BVVM at www .veterans- memorial.org,
The Japanese had fallen back into three defensive lines or Bit Youngkin at 979 -260 -7030 .
from the middle to the southern end of the island. a
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