7/17/2006

SFC Scott R. Smith was killed on 17 July 2006.  SFC Smith was assigned 737th Ordnance Company (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 63rd Ordnance Battalion (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 52nd Ordnance Group (Explosive Ordnance Disposal), 20th Support Command (CBRNE), stationed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.  SFC Smith had just preformed a controlled ordnance clearing mission of an improvised explosive device in Al-Iskandariyah, Iraq and went back downrange to conduct a post-blast investigation when he step on a pressure plate of a buried improvised explosive device.  SFC Smith died from his injuries sustained from the detonation.   SFC Smith was awarded a Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart Medal posthumously.  Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey named their Explosive Ordnance Disposal Shop in honor of SFC Scott R. Smith on 21 July 2007, called the “The Smith Building.”  SFC Smith had once worked at Picatinny Arsenal.

Additional Facts: Born: 21 April 1972, DuBois, Pennsylvania; Age: 34; Hometown: Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; Home Station: Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Buried: Lakelawn Memorial Park and Mausoleum, Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania. 

SFC Smith is survived by his wife Gari-Lynn, his parents Robert “Big Red” and Shirl Smith and brother Shawn and his wife Jen (Dupak) Smith, all of Punxsutawney.  He is also survived by his paternal grandparents Richard and Betty Smith and maternal grandmother, Louise Vasbinder, also of Punxsutawney.

*This bio was researched and authored by SGM Mike R.Vining, USA (Retired). Please send any additional information and/or corrections to the author of this bio by email: sgmmvining@gmail.com. The EOD Wounded Warrior Foundation is not responsible for the accuracy of the information in bio.