Charles A. B. Smith

Smith's Son, Fireman's Mascot, 
Leaves School to Enlist in Army

Strapping, Six-foot Camden High Athlete 'Natural' 
to Make a Good Soldier if He Follows in 
Hero Father's Footsteps

Sergeant Ray Smith started to remonstrate when his son, Charles, broke the news he was enlisting in the Army.
     But not for long. Because "Charlie" had a good argument.
"Why, Dad, you were only 17 when you enlisted," he said. "I'm 18, so why shouldn't I go now?"
     Ray Smith, Courier-Post reporter, hero of the first World War and former heavy-weight champion of the AEF, looked at his strapping six-foot, 209-pound boy. He knew a good argument when he saw one.
     "Okay, son. Go to it."
     And that was how Charles A.B. Smith, son of Ray and Mabel Smith, won permission to enlist.
     A Camden High junior and member of the soccer team, "Charlie" is a "natural" to make a good soldier, if he follows in his dad's footsteps. Now stationed at the Fort Dix reception center, he hopes to be assigned to the quartermaster or fire departments.
     And there's a story to that, too. For Young Smith knows more about fires, especially in Camden, than perhaps anyone else in the city except members of the department.
     For several years he has been a familiar figure at every fore, following the apparatus on his bicycle. And he often sent in good news reports of these blazes when his dad was busy elsewhere. he has kept a list of every fore in the past two years in Camden.
     He is a friend of every fireman, and, in fact, was considered their mascot.
     Sergeant Ray is mighty proud of his son.
     "He's a normal youngster who appreciates what America means to him," said Ray. "He knows this is an all-out war and that it is the duty of every patriotic American to do his bit."
     Ray himself did plenty during his 27 months service overseas in the first war.
     Wounded in three engagements, his bravery won him the Croix de Guerre with palm, presented to him by Marshal Petain.
     During his service overseas, Ray won the heavyweight boxing championship of the AEF.

PRIVATE CHARLES AUGUSTUS BODINE SMITH was born on March 29, 1924. He dropped out of Camden High School, where he would have graduated in June 1943, to join the Army. He was the son of Camden Police Sergeant, former pro boxer and later  NJ State Boxing official Ray Smith and his wife Mabel Nash Smith. A fire department aficionado, Charles Smith was the youngest auxiliary fireman in the city of Camden. He had lived at 31 North 25th Street, then at 212 North 27th Street, near the fire station in East Camden. 

After his enlistment, Private Smith trained in New York, and served at Fort Dix. On October 4, 1942 it was reported that he had been taken to the Philadelphia Naval Hospital for an emergency appendectomy in the Camden Courier-Post. 

After recovering from the surgery, Private Smith was for a time assigned to the 1130th Military Police Company, Army Air Force, based at Wellston Air Depot at Robins Field in Warner Robins GA. He was later sent to the United Kingdom. While in England, he was inducted into the Veterans of Foreign War East Camden Post 705 on Federal Street, a short walk from his home, on February 20, 1944. He was stationed at Fort Dix NJ when his mother passed on March 8, 1944, and received a furlough home for the funeral, after which he was transferred to the 2678th Civil Affairs Regiment in Algeria, where he died of injuries on July 29, 1944. He was 20 years old.

Charles A.B. Smith's death was reported in the the August 10, 1944 edition of the Camden Courier-Post. His father subsequently moved to Erial NJ, where he opened the Charles A.B. Smith Home for Crippled Children, and remained active in charitable work for many years thereafter.

Private Smith was brought home to New Jersey after the war. He was buried at Arlington Cemetery in Pennsauken NJ on March 5, 1949.

Camden
Courier-Post

October 5, 1942

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Camden Courier-Post

February 21, 1944

Camden
Courier-Post

February 28, 1949

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March 5, 1949

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