caption serviceyears servicenumber branch commands death_date death_place birth_place allegiance unit awards battles birth_date nickname rank image article_title name
r.t. smith 1939 -- 1945 0-395294 united states united states army air forces commanding group bomber section commander , 1st air commando group officer , 337 fighter squadron , 329th fighter 21 august 1995 van nuys , california york , nebraska united states of america american volunteer group 1st air commando group chinese flying cross , air medal distinguished flying cross silver star order of the cloud and banner british distinguished world -rrb- war ii -lrb- burma campaign , china-burma-india theater 23 february 1918 `` bob '' r.t. '' , `` tadpole '' , `` lieutenant colonel flying tigers pilot.jpg robert t. smith
 robert t. smith
robert t. smith

robert tharp -lrb- r.t. -rrb- smith -lrb- february 23 , 1918 -- august 21 , 1995 -rrb- was born in york , nebraska .
his family moved to red cloud from hooper , nebraska in 1927 when his father , earl w. smith , was hired as superintendent of schools .
he graduated red cloud high school in 1935 .
smith attended the university of nebraska before joining the u.s. army air corps in 1939 , midway through his senior year .
