Place of birth El Paso, Texas
Place of death Baghdad, Iraq
Allegiance United States Army
Years of service 1989 - 2003
Rank Sergeant First Class
Unit 11th Engineer Battalion
Battles/wars Persian Gulf War, Bosnian War, Kosovo War, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Awards Medal of Honor
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Paul Ray Smith (September 24, 1969 ? April 4, 2003) was a United States Army Sergeant First Class who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving with B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, Iraq. He was also the first recipient of the Medal of Honor Flag.
September 24, 1969 - April 4, 2003
Place of birth El Paso, Texas
Place of death Baghdad, Iraq
Allegiance United States Army
Years of service 1989 - 2003
Rank Sergeant First Class
Unit 11th Engineer Battalion
Battles/wars Persian Gulf War, Bosnian War, Kosovo War, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Awards Medal of Honor
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Paul Ray Smith (September 24, 1969 ? April 4, 2003) was a United States Army Sergeant First Class who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for actions in Operation Iraqi Freedom while serving with B Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division in Baghdad, Iraq. He was also the first recipient of the Medal of Honor Flag.
Smith was born in El Paso, Texas and raised in Tampa, Florida. He graduated in 1989 from Tampa Bay Vo Tech High School. Following graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Smith served there for 13 years, rising to the rank of Sergeant First Class.
As part of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he was assigned to Bravo Company, 11th Engineer Battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division. His company was supporting the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment as it made its way through the Karbala Gap, across the Euphrates River and to Saddam International Airport in Baghdad.
On April 4, 2003, a 100-man force was assigned to block the highway between Baghdad and the airport, about one mile east of the airport. A brief battle was fought, and several Iraqi prisoners were captured. SFC Smith spotted a walled enclosure nearby with a tower overlooking it. He and his squad set about building an impromptu enemy prisoner of war (EPW) holding area for prisoners in the enclosure.
Smith and 16 other men used an Armored Combat Earthmover (akin to a bulldozer) to knock a hole in the south wall of the courtyard. On the north side, there was a metal gate that Smith assigned several men to guard. These men noticed 50 to 100 Iraqi troops who had taken positions in trenches just past the gate. Smith summoned a Bradley fighting vehicle to attack their position. Three nearby M113 Armored Personnel Carriers came to support the attack. An M113 was hit, possibly by a mortar, and all three crewmen were injured.
The Bradley, running low on ammunition and damaged, withdrew during a lull in the battle. Smith organized the evacuation of the injured M113 crewmen. However, behind the courtyard was a military aid station crowded with 100 combat casualties. To protect it from being overrun, Smith chose to fight on rather than withdraw with the wounded.
SFC Paul R. Smith's Bravo Company, 11th Engineer Battalion, 3rd Infantry Division.Meanwhile, some Iraqis had taken position in the tower overlooking the courtyard, just over the west wall. The Iraqis now had the Americans in the courtyard under an intense crossfire. Smith took command of the M113 and ordered a driver to position it so that he could attack both the tower and the trenches. He manned the M113's machine gun, going through three boxes of ammunition. A separate team, led by First Sergeant Tim Campbell attacked the tower from the rear, killing the Iraqis. As the battle ended, Smith's machine gun fell silent. His comrades found him slumped in the turret hatch. His armored vest was peppered with 13 bullet holes, the vest's ceramic armor inserts, both front and back, cracked in numerous places. But the fatal shot, one of the last from the tower, had entered his neck and passed through the brain, killing SFC Smith.
Sometime before the battle Smith had written, but not sent, an email to his parents. In it he wrote, "there are two ways to come home, stepping off the plane and being carried off the plane... it doesn't matter how I come home, because I am prepared to give all that I am to insure that all my boys make it home."
For his actions during the battle, SFC Smith was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. On April 5, 2005, exactly two years after he was killed, his eleven-year old son David received the Medal of Honor presented by President George W. Bush. Additionally for his actions in Iraq, he received the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star.
SFC Smith is survived by his wife Birgit, son David, and step-daughter Jessica. Birgit is the sponsor of the first littoral combat ship, Freedom (LCS-01), and her initials are welded on the ship's keel.
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