Mr. Smith is going to Washington, D.C., Mr. John M. Smith of Sunridge that is.
The 88-year-old World War II veteran is getting a free trip to the nation's capital to tour the war memorials there thanks to the Honor Flight Network.
John said he signed up for honor flight at a 2008 American Legion meeting.
"Some fellow there had applications for the Honor Flight," he said. "I mailed it in and forgot about it."
Then a man named Jim McLaughlin from the Honor Flight Network called him and said he'd been selected for the program.
"It came out of the blue," he said. "He made all the arrangements, including tickets for myself and my daughter. This is a great surprise to me that they called me to take this trip. They're not charging me anything."
John has lived in the Valley for 10 years, when he and his twin daughters moved here from California in December 1999.
He was drafted from Chicago in October 1942. He signed up for the draft when he turned 20 right after Pearl Harbor.
"I didn't enlist," he said. "My mother was dead set against it."
As it turns out, he never saw combat. He was a mechanic with the 2266 Quartermaster Truck Company of the 36th Air Depot Group.
He was a shop foreman and mechanic working in the motor pool, through Northern Africa and Italy.
"We hauled supplies from seaports into the supply depots. I trailed convoys with a repair truck as far north as Pisa."
He was stationed in Algiers and then in Naples behind American troops moving forward through the Mediterranean theater. After serving through the end of the war, he rode the aircraft carrier USS Randolph home.
After returning to Chicago, by way of Phoenix, which is where his family moved while he was away, he got married and then moved to California for 44 years, where he was a mechanic for ABF Freight System.
John's daughter Peggy Pollyea is accompanying him to Washington.
John said he's been to Washington before, but not for a long time. He's looking forward to seeing the newer memorials.
For more information, visit www.honorflight.org/
