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Smoot, Richard, MSG.
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Contact Info
Home Town Crownhill
Last Address Tornado, West Virginia
Date of Passing Jul 02, 2015
Location of Interment Donel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery - Dunbar, West Virginia
Master Sergeant(Retired) Richard A. Smoot, 67, of Tornado, passed away Thursday, July 2, 2015.He was born June 28, 1948 in Crownhill, West Virginia, the son of Trilba Gay Smoot and the late Richard Smoot.Dick was a devoted husband, father, and friend always willing to lend a hand. He was the rock of our immediate and extended family. Richard was a Retired US Army Veteran having served in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Dick had numerous military accomplishments all after the age of 40. At age 43, he completed the Special Forces Qualification Course as a Weapon Sgt., at age 50, he was Combat Diver Qualified (He was the eldest at the time). He was a Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha Team SGT conducting Combat Operations in Afghanistan in early 2002, and the Company Weapons SGT in Iraq in 2005 - 2006. Dick was a Whiskey 9, meaning he was both Halo and Scuba Qualified. Dick was a LEGEND in the Special Forces Community and respected by all. Dick was Commander for American Legion Post 73 for 3 and a half years. He was a member of the American Legion Riders, and Rolling Thunder Inc. But his greatest accomplishment of all was being the husband to a loving wife and father to his three children. In addition to his mother, he is survived by his loving wife of 47 years, Anna Smoot; son, Richard Allen Smoot and his wife, Kellie, of Watertown, N.Y.; daughters, Tonya Smoot and Tangie Smoot, both of Tornado; 8 grandchildren; brothers, George Smoot and his wife, Terri, of Charleston, Kenneth Smoot, of East Bank; sister, Penny Ratliff and her husband, Jim, of Spencer; all his nieces and nephews whom he treated as his own. He will be forever missed but will remain among us.Celebration of Dick's life will be 11 a.m. Tuesday, July 7, at Casdorph & Curry Funeral Home with LTC (Chaplain) Rob Hudson officiating. Burial will follow in Donnel C. Kinnard Memorial State Veterans Cemetery, Institute with Full Military Honors being conducted by Special Forces Association Chapter 68, 2nd Battalion, 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and assisted by American Legion Post 73 and VFW Post 6418.Gathering of family and friends will be from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home.Online condolences can be sent to the family at: www.casdorphandcurry.com
Completed the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) becoming an 18B Special Forces Weapons Sergeant. He later became the oldest person to complete and graduate the Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course (CDQC).
A legend in 2nd BN, 19th SFG (A) and the Special Forces Community.
Description This campaign was from 30 January to 1 April 1968. On 29 January 1968 the Allies began the Tet-lunar new year expecting the usual 36-hour peaceful holiday truce. Because of the threat of a large-scale attack and communist buildup around Khe Sanh, the cease fire order was issued in all areas over which the Allies were responsible with the exception of the I CTZ, south of the Demilitarized Zone.
Determined enemy assaults began in the northern and Central provinces before daylight on 30 January and in Saigon and the Mekong Delta regions that night. Some 84,000 VC and North Vietnamese attacked or fired upon 36 of 44 provincial capitals, 5 of 6 autonomous cities, 64 of 242 district capitals and 50 hamlets. In addition, the enemy raided a number of military installations including almost every airfield. The actual fighting lasted three days; however Saigon and Hue were under more intense and sustained attack.
The attack in Saigon began with a sapper assault against the U.S. Embassy. Other assaults were directed against the Presidential Palace, the compound of the Vietnamese Joint General Staff, and nearby Ton San Nhut air base.
At Hue, eight enemy battalions infiltrated the city and fought the three U.S. Marine Corps, three U.S. Army and eleven South Vietnamese battalions defending it. The fight to expel the enemy lasted a month. American and South Vietnamese units lost over 500 killed, while VC and North Vietnamese battle deaths may have been somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000.
Heavy fighting also occurred in two remote regions: around the Special Forces camp at Dak To in the central highlands and around the U.S. Marines Corps base at Khe Sanh. In both areas, the allies defeated attempts to dislodge them. Finally, with the arrival of more U.S. Army troops under the new XXIV Corps headquarters to reinforce the marines in the northern province, Khe Sanh was abandoned.
Tet proved a major military defeat for the communists. It had failed to spawn either an uprising or appreciable support among the South Vietnamese. On the other hand, the U.S. public became discouraged and support for the war was seriously eroded. U.S. strength in South Vietnam totaled more than 500,000 by early 1968. In addition, there were 61,000 other allied troops and 600,000 South Vietnamese.
The Tet Offensive also dealt a visibly severe setback to the pacification program, as a result of the intense fighting needed to root out VC elements that clung to fortified positions inside the towns. For example, in the densely populated delta there had been approximately 14,000 refugees in January; after Tet some 170,000 were homeless. The requirement to assist these persons seriously inhibited national recovery efforts.
