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WIFE RECOUNTS SMITH'S STORY
Peary A. Smith of Desloge (Cantwell) served in
the U.S. Army, 728th Engineer Corps in the Pacific Theatre during World War II. Mr. Smith died Aug. 30, 1993. The following was told by wife Cynthia Maxine
Smith:
"Peary A. Smith was inducted into the U.S. Army Jan 1,
1943. After he had been at Jefferson Barracks
a few days, he called late one afternoon asking me to come up as he was being shipped out
the next day.
"I went that night, taking along a nephew. On the way I remarked to the nephew Peary would
probably be sent to Oregon, not knowing that there was a basic training camp in that
state, but snowy Camp Abbott, Oregon, it was.
"Peary was put in the Army 728th Engineer Corps. I suppose because he worked for St. Joe Lead Co. in
Rivermines Engineering Department.
"After six months in Oregon he came home on leave. I picked him up at Union Station in St. Louis. When leave was over he went to California, then
down the West Coast, across the South and up to Memphis, Tenn. He spent one weekend at home while at Memphis,
coming by train to Bismarck.
"From Memphis he was sent to Camp Livingston, Louisiana,
where they were joined by a group mostly from Tennessee.
There he met Coleman Smith (no relation), a school teacher, then a banker. The two became best friends. After the war was over our families visited.
"I spent two weeks in Louisiana just before he was sent
back to California, to be sent overseas to the island of New Guinea. They were in a supply depot there for months, then
flew to the Philippines and readied to invade Japan had the atomic bomb not been dropped.
"Soon after, Peary came home. In January of 1945, he became ill. Thinking it was flu, we went to Dr. Homer Appleberry who told him it was Malaria - not the Missouri kind - and he would always have it. Dr. Appleberry had been in the Pacific area also."
"I'm sure Peary had attacks of Malaria at times for 20
to 25 years. Whether or not that had anything
to do with his having Chronic Lymphocitic Leukemia eight years that caused his death, I do
not know.
"I was working for Wetterau Grocer company in 1962. When they closed the warehouse in Desloge and built
a new facility in Scott City, we moved to Cape Girardeau and built a home there. I retired from Scott City in 1976 with 32 years
service and Peary retired as a solicitor for a truck line.
"We moved to the Farmington area, on Hillsboro Road
following our retirements. Peary wanted to
garden and on 14 acres that was plenty of space. He
planted everything he could think of, including 96 tomato plants and a lot of okra. Our families had all the tomatoes they could use,
as well as enough for anyone else who wanted any. Daughter
Susan made some delicious okra pickles. A few
years later, ill health put an end to garden and yard work.
Peary later compiled a book "50 pb", a history of
lead mining operations of the Lead Belt. He
interviewed several older former miners who had a story to tell. Books went to people in several states."
Cynthia Maxine Smith still resides in Farmington.
The DAILY JOURNAL, St. Francois County., Wednesday, April 26, 1995.
