The picture that you see is the image that most of America has about "Snuffy Smith." He was a hilarious hillbilly comic book character that I enjoyed reading about as a child, but did you know that the origional Snuffy Smith was in fact an Air Force Sergeant?

Staff Sergeant Maynard Harrison Smith was an Air Force Sergeant who enlisted in the Air Force to avoid being persecuted for failing to pay child support. He volunteered to become a gunner in order to make rank quickly and receive the additional pay. You see Air Force Gunners just didn't normally live very long in those days so they had to have some incentive to take the job.

Ssg Smith did indeed have the nickname of Snuffy and he is the person that the comic book character is based on. The real Snuffy Smith was the recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions during combat during WWII. His bomber ended up in the wrong place which put them in one heck of a situation. The bomber was severely shot up and damaged very badly. Ssg Smith is credited with single handly fighting the fire (which was very severe), periodically tending to 3 of the injured air crew, and driving off wave after wave of enemy bombers with his 50 caliber machine gun. Sgt Smith certainly earned his pay that day.

I'll bet that most of you had no idea that this event ever happened. I knew about it and it popped into my mind the other day that it would be a good topic for a post. I was talking to some of my military customers today and they had no idea. This post serves the same purpose that an  Air Force ring would serve in that it tells a story that might otherwise be forgotten.This is the real "Snuffy Smith" being awarded the Medal of Honor. One thing that I have learned is that you certainly can't judge people based on appearance alone. I would not think that Ssg Smith was capable of what he accomplished if I judged him by his outer looks. What the picture does not show is his heart.