Address: 255 and 257 Main Street, Matawan
The Smith family has been in Matawan from at least 1870, with patriarch William E. Smith (1854-1910), a farmer, and wife, the former Charlotte Black (1859-1938) having four children here, two of whom lived to adulthood. William and Charlotte are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
One of the sons, William Edward Smith Sr was born in Matawan on April 5, 1895. He was an electrician, and for a time was employed by Hanson-Van Winkle-Munning Company, the Borough of Matawan and retired from DuPont in Sayreville after 35 years at that company. He married Anna Elizabeth Clark (1897-1986) in Matawan on April 15, 1922, and they had fraternal twins George and William, Jr on November 27, 1923.
Prior to his marriage, William served with Company A of the 312th Ammunition Train, part of the 87 Division. His unit departed Hoboken for Montreal, Canada, and departed that city for France aboard the SS Waimana for France on August 25, 1918. This unit was held in reserve for a final offensive, but the Armistice was declared prior to its deployment. William departed Bordeaux, France on February 19, 1919, aboard the SS Sierra and returned home.
A charter member of American Legion Post 176, he also was instrumental in founding Matawan’s 1st Aid Squad. William was a member of the First Baptist Church and was a former chief of the Midway Hose Fire Company. He is buried in the Shoreland Memorial Gardens in Hazlet.
Individuals born in 1923 were prime military recruits when the war broke out in 1941. The twin Smith brothers, George and William, Jr, graduated from Matawan High School and joined the Navy as hospital corpsman. The brothers served in two of the war’s most dangerous theaters — Europe and the Pacific.
William Edward Smith, Jr, registered for the draft on June 30, 1942. Residing at 255 Main Street at the time, he was described as 5’9”tall, 160 pounds, blue eyes, brown hair with a fair complexion. His place of employment was listed as Hanson-Van Winkle-Munning Co.
He was drafted into the Navy in July of 1943. Originally stationed in Bainbridge, MD, his experience with the Matawan 1st Aid Squad apparently directed him toward a corpsman rating. After stints in the Sick Bay at Anacostia, DC and a naval facility in Rhode Island, he was assigned to the attack cargo ship USS Tolland (AKA-64).
On October 14, 1944, the Tolland, assigned to Task Group 29.7, departed Hampton Roads, VA, transited the Panama Canal, and participated in amphibious warfare training off Maui in the Hawaiian Islands. After a brief return to the West Coast, it returned to Pearl Harbor, spending Christmas and New Years there before embarking on additional training exercises in preparation for combat in the Pacific.
On January 27, 1945, Marines of the 5th Marine Division embarked along with a Navy Seabee detachment. After stopping at Eniwetok, it anchored off Iwo Jima and offloaded supplies and Marines. A Japanese artillery shell clipped its antenna for the only damage sustained by the ship. The ship’s sickbay, manned by William, cared for 25 wounded Marines.
After Iwo Jima, the ship served in the Okinawa campaign and endured intense kamikaze-attack threats, causing the ship to remain at general quarters for days at a time. The task force endured 22 air attacks over an eight-day period – the Tolland shot down a Japanese Betty bomber and an Oscar fighter.
The Tolland subsequently participated in amphibious in the Philippines in anticipation of an assault on the Japanese homeland. The atomic bomb ended the war, though, and he was discharged in March of 1946, returning home.
William married Lorraine Steiner on September 26, 1948, and they subsequently had three children, Lois, Kim and William. Lorraine and Kim are members of Matawan Historical Society.
William died on March 8, 2011, in Delray Beach, Fl. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.
When George Clark Smith registered for the draft the same date as his brother, he, too was working at Hanson-Van Winkle-Munning Co. and was 5’8” tall. 140 pounds, brown hair and eyes, and had a light complexion. Like his brother William, he was a member of the Matawan 1st Aid Squad and gravitated to the Navy Corpsman rate, enlisting in the Navy on May 29, 1943, in Camden.
He spent time at naval facilities in Bainbridge, MD and Norfolk, VA, before receiving orders to Europe. On August 24, 1944, the following article appeared in the Matawan Journal:
“MATAWAN SEAMAN HOME FROM FRANCE
George C. Smith Was on LST Boat Sunk Crossing Channel On D-Day
The first Matawan man to return home after having participated in the D-Day invasion on June 6 is George Clark Smith, 20, pharmacist’s mate third class, U.S.N.R., who was one of fifty-four in his medical unit to be rescued when the LST boat on which they were crossing the English Channel was sunk.
The unit was with the first wave of the invasion fleet and included 125 men. When their boat was struck, all on the port side were killed or wounded, George said, and the men on starboard, where his post was, were thrown fifteen feet into the water. After about four hours, the survivors were picked up by the second wave of the fleet and proceeded then to the coast of Normandy where George was with the group who occupied the Omaha beachhead. In experience there, he said, was worse than his plunge into the Channel.
After five weeks with the troops in France, during which he was kept busy caring for the wounded, including German prisoners, who George seemed glad to be captured, he was taken to a hospital for a check-up and then to a rest home in Scotland, later sailing for the United States.
He entered the Navy July 5 last year and left for overseas on the Queen Mary Feb. 10. On his arrival in England, he was stationed at an air base on the southern coast where casualties were brought for treatment.
George, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Smith, Main St., arrived home Tuesday to spend an eighteen-day leave. By fortunate chance, his twin brother, William Jr., who has been based at Newport, R.I., obtained a two-day pass and was able to be home yesterday and today. It is the first time in nine months that the brothers have seen each other.
Bill Jr., who has been in the Navy since last July 5, is a hospital apprentice first class.
The twins are graduates of Matawan High School and members of the Matawan First Aid Squad.”
It is noted that no LST was sunk on D-Day at Normandy; however, four LCIs (Landing Ship, Infantry) were. One was LCI(L)-94, which was transporting the 104th Medical Battalion, which George may have been seconded to.
George returned home and married Eleanor Novicki on June 10, 1945, in Glendale, NJ. They had one son, George, Jr. George Sr died on October 12, 1994, in Del Ray Beach, Fl, and is buried in Shoreland Memorial Gardens in Hazlet.
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