Lindsay’s own Amos Smith will be honored at our State’s Capitol on Monday, April 25, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. – for being Oklahoma’s oldest surviving World War II veteran. ‘Famous Amos’, as many folks call him, turned 102 in November.
A flag will be flown over our State’s Capitol the morning of Monday, April 25, 2022, and it will be given to Amos. This is a well-deserved honor.
Amos served five years, two months, and 27 days in the US Army – in the European theater, France and Germany, during World War II.
He started at Fort Sill in Lawton, where he was a member of the Horse Battalion. His occupation specialty was automotive mechanic, and his military qualification as of April 6, 1944, was Marksman Carbine.
Amos served in the Ardennes Rhineland Campaign, also Northern France, and Central Europe.
He came home with EAME service ribbon, four Bronze Stars, and American Service ribbon.
Amos was born November 25, 1919 to William and Alice Smith in Heavener, Oklahoma, one of 11 children. In 1929, at the beginning of the Depression, the Smith family packed up their covered wagon, and moved to land along Rush Creek, just south of Wallville, to farm. He attended the Davis School.
Amos has always been a worker. In 1936, at the age of 16, during the height of the Depression, he joined one of the New Deal Programs, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), where he made $30 a month. He lived on $5 and sent the other $25 home to his momma. Times were hard.
Amos met and married Myrtle Pratt in April of 1940. On August 1 of that year, just before World War II, Amos left the farm and WALKED – yes, WALKED – to Oklahoma City to join the US Army.
When Amos returned from World War II, he took a job with Skelly Oil Company as a pumper. He also worked at Kern Painting in Lindsay and the Mobil Oil Pipe yard in Lindsay.
After he retired, he went to work for the Bob Poteet Ranch, and worked there until Bob’s death in 2012, when Amos was almost 93 years old.
In 2011, after much persuasion from Bob Poteet, Amos was on the very first Honor Flight out of the State of Oklahoma. The Honor Flight celebrates America’s veterans by taking them to our nation’s memorials, notably the World War II Memorial, in Washington, DC.
Amos has three children: Sandra, Laura Beth, and Christopher. He has 12 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.
Not long ago, Amos moved to a nursing home in Tuttle, near his son’s family. At 1:30 p.m. on Monday, April 25, 2022, he will receive a great honor from our State’s leaders – and well deserved, it is.
The American Legion Ball-Smith Post 23 in Lindsay will attend the ceremony. Anyone else who would like to attend may do so. A head count is needed, so those planning to attend should contact Bill Walker, with the American Legion in Lindsay, at 405-756-0394.
• Publisher’s note: I’ve known Amos most of my life. He is an all-around great guy. I always enjoy running into him. We’ve often reminisced about the days when his son, Chris and I, were in High School together – and we always shared a good laugh. Amos lived on his own until just recently, and took care of his own business. To be in his presence is to be in the presence of a real American hero. He is fun-loving, bright, and always enjoys a good laugh. Amos is a great guy. He’s a member of one of America’s Greatest Generation. There aren’t many of those left. And they sure don’t make men like Amos very often any more.
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