Billy V. Smith

February 12, 1935 - January 24, 2023

Billy Vaughn Smith was born on February 12, 1935 in Parker, Kansas. He grew up on an Iowa dairy farm and he was an entrepreneur from an early age. Most of the time that meant no entrepreneur jobs but hot, sweaty work in the fields and sometimes in twenty foot deep snow drifts and thirty below mornings; yes, uphill both ways.

He was privileged to live through the fabulous fifties and developed a strong belief in America, The Land of Opportunity, during the war years. By the time he was ten he decided on a military career, especially as a pilot.

Starting in 1952, Bill earned a bachelor’s degree at Iowa State, and later a Master’s at Georgia. During his last year of college he met Ruth Elaine Ditto and fell in love. Ruth was his one and only love the next sixty years. He was devastated when he lost her in June 2016 and put up a shrine of her pictures in his bedroom and did not take off his wedding ring. Hereafter, they will be together again in the Fort

Sam Houston National Cemetery.

Shortly after their wedding, Bill and Ruth headed to Fort Sill, OK to begin an army career. During the next twenty years they moved their home twenty-six times. Their motto during those years was…”Home is where the Army sends us”.

In 1961 Bill went to Korea on his first flying assignment and Ruth stayed home except for a three week trip to Japan in 1962 to meet Bill. In 1963 Bill gained a daughter, Lori, and in 1965 a son, William. Lori added grandchildren Ashley (Keaton) Savoie, Tyler (Sierra) Vara, and Mikaela (Michael) Boyd. William (Amy) added grandchild William to the family.

In 1967 Bill went to Vietnam flying the huge Chinook helicopter and returned in 1970 to take command of that same unit. He also commanded an attack helicopter troop and just before his retirement he commanded the 24th aviation battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia.

During his Army career,

Bill earned a Legion of Merit, a Distinguished Flying Cross, four Bronze Stars, two Meritorious Service medals, thirteen Air Medals (one for Valor), two Army Commendation Medals (one for valor), three other service medals, three Vietnamese Medals and three Unit Citations.

Upon leaving the service, Bill started a career in the San Antonio commercial real estate market. Over five years he brokered the sale of five million dollars of multi-family property while supervising the construction of 756 apartment units.

When the real estate business took a tumble in the eighties, Bill formed and managed three limited partnerships, then two sole proprietor businesses. He sold all of these business interests by 1993 and retired for a while, finding time to write his memoir and three novels about flying during the Vietnam War. But his entrepreneurial genes couldn’t rest and in 2020 Bill and his son built a small RV Park which was in the green two months after opening.

Bill died on January 24, 2023 after eighty-seven flights around the sun. He lived a full and eventful life and will be missed by his family and those who knew him well.

Funeral service at Porter Loring North on February 24, 2023 at 11am with interment to follow at Fort Sam Houston.

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the Guestbook at www.porterloring.com Arrangements with