Earl L. Smith was born in 1919 in Pennsylvania. He resided in Camden County, New Jersey prior to the war. He enlisted in the Army on September 8, 1942 in Camden, New Jersey. He was noted, at the time of his enlistment, as being Married. Earl served as a Staff Sergeant and Gunner on B-24J #42-100184, 373rd Bomber Squadron, 308th Bomber Group, Heavy, U.S. Army Air Force during World War II.

B-24J #42-100184 took off, with a crew of 7 and 3 passengers, from Yangkai, China on a ferrying mission to Chabua, India. The last heard from them was a radio transmission noting they were 30 minutes east of Chabua. They crashed, for an unknown reason near Cheppe, Arunachal Pradesh, India during the war. Earl was declared "Missing In Action" on this mission. His name is commemorated on the Walls of the Missing, Manila American Cemetery, Taguig City, Philippines.

The aircraft, along with evidence of human remains, was located December 2010 by Clayton Kuhles. Remains have not as yet (2018) been recovered and/or identified.

Ssgt Smith was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is also commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, www.abmc.gov