32ND REGIMENT,
7TH BATTALION, CO. B
Interview by Johnnie Faye Taylor
Milo is the son of Milo Smith, Sr. and Alma Bedingfield Smith. He was 15 years old and in the 9th grade on Dec. 7, 1941. That Sunday afternoon started out with his family making a normal visit to his maternal grandparents in Rentz, Georgia. They heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the car radio.
The next day, Monday, Dec. 8, 1941 was a regular school day. Milo attended classes as usual. During the school day, the normal routine changed. All the students were taken into the school auditorium where they listened to President Roosevelt's speech on the radio. This speech later became famous for the words "This Day Will Live in Infamy".
Life changed in the Smith house. Ration coupons were issued to them as well as everyone else. Food became scarce. Gas, Tires and Oil were also scarce and had to be purchased with ration coupons. Milo was able to walk nearly everywhere he needed or wanted to go since their home was close to town. He doesn't remember any real hardships in regards to the use of his parents' car.
Milo graduated from High School on June 1, 1943. There were 11 grades in school at that time. He was 16 years old when he graduated but had a birthday in July. Milo went to work in Dublin after graduation.
He joined the State Guard and trained with them until the summer of 1944. He remembers well the training sessions at Hillside Retreat and the camping trips the Guard made while in training. Nearly every weekend was spent with the Guard. He remembers Gene Scarborough, a friend of his, was in the State Guard also. Most members of the Guard were young boys not yet out of school or old enough for the draft. Some were older people who were too old for the draft but felt like they had something to contribute to the war effort.
Milo received his draft notice in the summer of 1944 after turning 18 years of age. He reported to Fort McPherson in Atlanta for a physical. Shortly afterward, he was told to report back to Fort McPherson for induction into the Army. His pay was about $50.00 per month.
From Ft. McPherson, he was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida. Camp Blanding was located near Starke, Florida not very far from Jacksonville. It was an Infantry Replacement Training Center. The wooden barracks had wide cracks in the floor. The young soldiers were happy they were there in the summer instead of the winter.
While at the Infantry Replacement Training Center, Milo came down with Spinal Meningitis. He was still in the Army but on recuperation status for a good while. After his recovery, it was determined that he was well enough to begin training again. He joined another training cycle. This training lasted 15 weeks.
Leave was granted for one week before going to his new assignment. At the end of his leave, his dad took Milo and a friend of his to Macon where they got a train going to California by way of Chicago and Salinas, California before he reported in at Fort Ord. Milo was only at Fort Ord a short time before going up the coast via train to Seattle.
From Seattle, his group traveled to Hawaii on a converted luxury liner. The Matsonia
was owned by Matson Steamship Lines and had been their main ship before the war. The troops ate in the Grand Ballroom. About a dozen or so were assigned to each cabin. The ship went into port at Pearl Harbor. Two more weeks of training was done while in Hawaii.
They took another ship to Okinawa. This time it was a troop transport ship and they traveled in a convoy of other ships. The convoy zig-zagged their way to Okinawa to avoid any submarines that might have been in the area. En Route they got into a typhoon. Since they were travelling in convoy, it was easy to see the effects the weather was having on the other ships. The bow of a ship would go under water and the fantail of the ship would be up in the air with the screw turning. This terrible weather lasted a day or more. The convoy reached Okinawa about June 1, 1945. The invasion of Okinawa had taken place on April 1, 1945. They disembarked in the Buckner Bay Harbor using nets to get to the small boats that would take them ashore.
About a 100 yards off the beach, they were told to immediately put up their pup tents. They were to stay there overnight before going inland to join up with their company. On their first night on Okinawa, they lay on their backs on shore and watched as a sky full of Kamikaze pilots dive bombed the many ships at anchor in the bay. The ships fired back at the airplanes. The search lights in the harbor were on. Such fire to see and noise to hear on their first night on foreign soil. The sky was lit up with light from all the bombing, gun fire and search lights. Many of the ships had to have been hit by the Kamikaze pilots but Milo and the others in his group would never know how many had suffered damage.
Milo was placed in the 7th Divison, Mortar Section of the Rifle Infantry Company. He was issued a M-1 Rifle. His division spent their time on Okinawa rounding up the Japanese who were still on the island. As the Japanese were found, they were turned over to the M.P.'s who put them on ships to go back to Japan. His division also spent time training for an invasion of Japan. The invasion would have occurred in late 1945 or early 1946. Milo stayed on Okinawa until the United States dropped the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan that ended the war. The Japanese surrendered so plans for the invasion of Japan could be scrapped. While on Okinawa, Milo's division was housed in tents. The kitchens were portable.
After the war ended, Milo's division was sent to Korea. They were part of the Army of Occupation in Korea. Korea had been occupied by the Japanese since 1905. The Japanese needed to be rounded up and repatriated to Japan. The division arrived in Seoul at the Prisoner of War Camp just after the POW'S had been released. They repatriated the Japanese still at the camp. The Japanese remaining in Korea at that time never offered any resistance to the U.S. Forces. The division was at the POW Camp about a week. Milo remembers the awful condition of the POW Camp and what must have been a miserable time for the POW'S. Milo remembers staying in an old hotel while in Seoul.
The division then went to the 38th Parallel where they guarded the border of North Korea and South Korea. The Soviet Forces occupied the territory north of the 38th Parallel and the U.S. Forces were to the south of it. This location was in the mountains and very cold during the long winter. The company area was within sight of their guard duty on the Parallel. Milo spent Christmas 1945 walking guard duty in knee deep snow. He had never seen so much snow and then to have the job of walking in it while on duty really made an impression on him. No special celebrations took place at Christmas time that year. Home at this location was a tent. The beds were cots.
While stationed at the 38th Parallel, Milo made Mortar Section Sgt.. He was issued a 45 Caliber Pistol.
Milo stayed in Korea until the late summer of 1946. During his time on the 38th Parallel, the living conditions were not great. He doesn't remember the food being particularly bad. He does remember sleeping on a cot for such a long time. There was no entertainment in the area so the guys just sat around and talked during their off duty hours. Milo made one trip into Seoul from "the Parallel". About every two weeks a chaplain would go out to the division for religious services.
Milo came back to the States at the end of two years duty. He was discharged from the Army in the summer of 1946. He served overseas in a potentially dangerous area but personally encountered no enemy fire. Milo came home and enrolled in college at Middle Georgia College in Cochran, Georgia. One of the benefits from his military service was the G.I. Bill. This paid for his college courses. He graduated from there after 2 years and considered going to the University of Georgia in the Fall.
He was never to go to the University. His father who was a veteran of World War I became ill. He was a patient at the V.A. Hospital in Dublin for some time. Milo went from Jr. College into the family business (Cash Wholesale Company) to work while his dad was ill. He got involved and never left the family business. It has changed locations and name over the years. The current name of the business is Dublin Institutional Foods.
On August 5, 1950, Milo married June Coleman. They have remained in Dublin where they have been active in their church and community. They have two children, David and Nora Jane.
Milo teaches the Townsend Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church where he is a member, deacon and talented member of the Chancel Choir. Milo has held nearly every lay position in the church. He was the Chairman of the Hospital Authority for many years and became the first Chairman of the Board of the Fairview Park Hospital. He has been a Director of Farmers and Merchants Bank for nearly thirty years.
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