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 Previous: Participation Up 57% for 2003 FMT |  Next: Peggy Sue Gets Licensed? |
 Leland W. Smith Sr, W5KL, rose from the rank of private to brigadier general in the US Marine Corps. |
President Emeritus of the Quarter Century Wireless Association Leland W. Smith Sr, W5KL, died February 15 in Harrison, Arkansas. He was 90 years old. Smith, an ARRL Life Member, was the sitting president of the Old Old Timer's Club and held a number of ARRL section-level appointments into the 1980s--including serving as SCM in Georgia and Alabama prior to World War II. He also once served as a Director on the Board of the Radio Club of America.
ARRL First Vice President Joel Harrison, W5ZN, said he first met Smith as a teenager growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas in the early 1970s. "When I became Arkansas Section Manager in 1983, Leland was one of the first League members to contact me and offer any assistance or advice," Harrison recalled. "Throughout my tenure as Delta Division Director, Leland was always available to bounce ideas of off, and he served as one of my Assistant Directors. His service to ARRL and Amateur Radio was respectable and commendable. Leland was an example all radio amateurs should strive to follow. He will be missed."
An Amateur Radio operator since 1930, Smith was well regarded for his CW operating ability and powerfully efficient station. Harrison said, "One of the most memorable thing about Leland was his CW fist and the pounding signal I used to hear on OZK, the Arkansas CW Traffic Net. At the first dit, you knew Leland was QNI."
"He was the epitome of a good CW operator, as well as a good person. It meant a lot to me to hear his strong signal and good fist on the section CW traffic net. Now we will miss him and his good example to all hams," said Arkansas SM Dennis Schaefer, W5RZ. Former Arkansas SM Bob Ideker, WB5VUH, added, "He was a real gentleman and someone we'll really miss in our hobby."
From Private to General
Leland Smith was born in Joplin, Missouri on February 2, 1914. Raised by his grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama, he graduated from high school there and joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. "My CCC service provided...$25 for my grandmother and $5 a month for myself as spending money," he wrote in an April 2000 autobiographical sketch for the Boone County Historian. "I was able to continue my hobby as a radio amateur with low-power homemade equipment from my tent..."
Smith then joined the US Naval Reserve in Georgia and began working at the Veterans Hospital in Augusta. He received a discharge from the Reserve to enlist in the US Marine Corps in 1937, entering as a private, but quickly rising to sergeant major and earning a commission as a second lieutenant by 1940. While serving in the Pacific Theater in World War II as commander of a radar group, Smith won a Bronze Star for bravery under fire and maintaining vital communication during combat, as well as three battle stars.
In his sketch for the Historian, Smith said while he was on Kwajalein Island, he helped put a broadcasting station on the air to entertain the troops stationed there. "After determining we had enough [discarded] Japanese parts and tubes, as well as some of our own, we put together a 50 W AM broadcast station," he wrote. He received permission from Admiral Chester Nimitz to operate the station at 1030 kHz as KWAJ. "We had plenty of V-Disk recordings of popular music and as a radio operator I copied the news from the states via shortwave broadcasts."
Smith returned to active duty during the Korean Conflict as an electronics officer on the staff of the commanding general and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. After the war, he worked again for the VA in Washington, DC, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from George Washington University. He remained active in the Marine Reserves and also worked for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. In 1966, he became one of only five reserve general officers, attaining the rank of brigadier general on the recommendation of the Commandant of the Marine Corps and President Nixon. He retired in 1970, but was active in church, American Legion, Masonic and Amateur Radio activities. Through the years, he also held the amateur call signs W4AGI, W4YE, W4BEA, W4PCS, W3JJO and K6CN.
Smith was preceded in death by his wife, Helen, WA5WAR,
and is survived by three sons, including Leland "Buddy" W. Smith, Jr, W4YE, and
Kay "Vic" V. Smith, W4AGI. Memorial services will be held 10 AM Friday at St Paul's
United Methodist Church in Harrison, Arkansas.
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