| Title |
Todd P. Smith, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Becky B. Lloyd, August 5, 2004: Saving the Legacy tape no. 695 |
| Alternative Title |
Todd P. Smith, Saving the legacy: an oral history of Utah's World War II veterans, ACCN 2070, American West Center, University of Utah |
| Creator |
Smith, Todd P., 1919- |
| Contributor |
Lloyd, Becky B.; University of Utah. American West Center |
| Publisher |
Digitized by J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah |
| Date |
2004-08-05 |
| Date Digital |
2015-12-16 |
| Access Rights |
I acknowledge and agree that all information I obtain as a result of accessing any oral history provided by the University of Utah's Marriott Library shall be used only for historical or scholarly or academic research purposes, and not for commercial purposes. I understand that any other use of the materials is not authorized by the University of Utah and may exceed the scope of permission granted to the University of Utah by the interviewer or interviewee. I may request permission for other uses, in writing to Special Collections at the Marriott Library, which the University of Utah may choose grant, in its sole discretion. I agree to defend, indemnify and hold the University of Utah and its Marriott Library harmless for and against any actions or claims that relate to my improper use of materials provided by the University of Utah. |
| Spatial Coverage |
France; Germany |
| Subject |
Smith, Todd P., 1919- --Interviews; Veterans--United States--Biography; World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Military operations, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Europe, Northern--Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--France--Normandy--Personal narratives, American |
| Description |
Transcript (29 pages) of an interview by Becky B. Lloyd with Todd P. Smith on August 5, 2004. From tape number 695 in the "Saving the Legacy" Oral History Project |
| Collection Number and Name |
Accn2070, Saving the Legacy oral history project, 2001-2010 |
| Abstract |
Smith (b. 1919) grew up in Iowa, where he dropped out of school to join the Civilian Conservation Corps. He enlisted in the army in April 1942 and was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division, Company M. He trained in Nebraska, Texas, Louisiana, and the Mojave Desert. Landed at Utah Beach after D-Day and traveled across France into Germany. His job at regimental headquarters was filling out reports of soldiers missing, wounded, and killed. He was discharged in October 1945. Interviewed by Becky Lloyd. 29 pages. |
| Type |
Text |
| Genre |
oral histories (literary works) |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Extent |
29 pages |
| Language |
eng |
| Rights |
 |
| Scanning Technician |
Mazi Rakhsha |
| Conversion Specifications |
Original scanned with Kirtas 2400 and saved as 400 ppi uncompressed TIFF. PDF generated by Adobe Acrobat Pro X for CONTENTdm display |
| ARK |
ark:/87278/s6wd62mw |
| Topic |
Personal narratives--American; Veterans; World War (1939-1945) |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1034124 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6wd62mw |
| Title |
Page 28 |
| Format |
application/pdf |
| Setname |
uum_slohp |
| ID |
1034122 |
| OCR Text |
Show TODDP. MITH 2 04 kid. ure enough come the invasion one of the regiments- it wa n t u · it wa f the other ones who went in before we did. I think that was the 3 59th Regim nt- I don t know if it was in the first or second wave, but they were in there. [Editor ' note: ince there were three infantry regiments (the 357th, 358th, and 3591h) in the 901h Division, and Mr. Smith states that he was not in the 3591h, he must have served either in the headquarters of either the 35ih Infantry Regiment or the 3581h Infantry Regiment while formally assigned to Company M of one of those regiments.] We were all pretty much up close after a while. But, you can't imagine the number of ships that were in the Channel. We were on this landing craft, tank (LST). (There were so many ships that) we couldn't see the end of the ships in all directions. They were all shapes and sizes. I just couldn't believe that there could be that many people in the Channel and they were all going to land on Omaha or Utah Beach. But they did. That didn't even include Sword and Juno Beaches to the east of us, which were British. It was an amazing thing. We attended a movie show in Britain one night. I forget the name of the movie. On the screen, it said, "The bombers are approaching. Those of you who want to leave may do so." I thought, "It must be time to go." But nobody got up. I thought, "What's the matter with these people?" But they were so used to it, it didn't bother them anymore. I thought, "If they can take it, I can too." They bombed away. They weren't close but we could hear them. Pretty soon it was over with and the Germans went back. I guess they were going to wait for another night. It was amazing, I'll tell you, but you got used to it after a while. BEC: When you tell that story now, it sounds so strange for everybody to just stay and watch the movie. 28 |
| Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6wd62mw/1034122 |
