Local veteran recalls war experiences

BRISTOL, Tenn. – In the middle of World War II, Walton Smith held the rank of master sergeant.

At the time, the Bristol Tennessee resident served as a correspondent and photographer in the U.S. Army.

Enlisting in 1941, this former Rochester, N.Y., resident went overseas in 1942 and was discharged in 1945. In between, however, Smith walked into the world of Germany.

And there, he experienced life in the war zone – and captured it on film.

"I sent photographs by wire to Washington, D.C.," he said. "I sent out news reports – sent out to U.S. and world newspapers."

But Smith didn’t stop there.

After the war, he turned his photography skills into a job, working for the film chemical testing department of Eastman Kodak.

Decades later, in his mid-80s, Smith remembered his time as a war correspondent as among the most exciting chapters of his long and varied life.

"The Russians allowed us to go into Paris," he said. "And the Russians allowed us to go into Berlin."

Along the way, Smith faced danger.

Often, he said, he heard bombs "overhead and bombs coming down. I heard a bomb coming, and I thought, ‘Smith, you better get down.’ "

Fortunately, Smith made it that time.

Years later, however, he recalled the war’s "buzz bombs" in the air.

And then he got a little maudlin, recalling what he saw during the war – without his camera.

"I didn’t see any of the buzz bombs hit," Smith said. "But ... I saw the destruction."

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