Berdell O. Smith, 84, of Ft. Wayne died Thursday July 16, 2009 at Lutheran Hospital, with his wife, Barbara, daughter Susan and grand daughter Joanna present.
Born April 26, 1925, he was the sonofthe late Dean Berdell Smith and Velma Adelia(Mennewisch) Smith. A native of Ft. Wayne he was a member of Emmaus Lutheran Church, and he was a Manufacturing Engineer at G. E. for 43 yrs. and winnung many awards and teaching several instructional classes. He was an avid four season sportsman with rabbit hunting topping the list with his own good brace of 2 13″ beagles that he raised and trained. His Favorite hunting partners were his son, Martin and 3 grandsons, Erich, Ross, and Christopher. During WW II, he was drafted after he graduated from Central High School, Ft. Wayne, in 1943. He went to Great Lakes Naval Training Station at Navy Pier in Chicago. He attended gunnery school in Jacksonville, FL then was sent to Hutchinson KS and was assigned to the newly redesigned 4 engine PB4Y2 privateer airplane, in Squadron VPB124, withan 11 man crew. On all his flights, he manned one of six machine gun turrets built on the outside of their plane for protection. He experienced one direct hit on his turret. He had bloody shrapnel wounds but survived and returned to duty within a few days.
