Moses Smith, U.S. Marines, 1973-1977

Moses Smith was born and raised in Hoonah until he left for Juneau in 1963 or 1964 after his grandparents drowned.  Mr. Smith was raised in the Tlingit way by his uncle Al Martin, who taught him how to be a fisherman, use a rifle, hunt, sharpen a knife for cleaning fish and how to be a better man.  He enlisted in the Marine Corp and served from January, 1973 to July, 1977.  He chose the Marines because “I liked their uniform.”

After boot camp he went to MP school in Fort Gordon, Georgia.  Mr. Smith was later selected to protect President Richard Nixon at the “western" White House, in San Clemente. However, Nixon resigned soon after.    

He was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California.  Then he was sent overseas in October, 1975 to go to Okinawa. 

Every duty station he went to was also inhabited by Colonel Archie Van Winkle (March 17, 1925 – May 22, 1986), a United States Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions as a staff sergeant during the advance to the Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War.

Mr. Smith once got a commendation for driving a woman in labor- with lights and siren- to a hospital to have her baby.

When asked by Major Roger Courtney would he re-enlist, his answer was “No, my heart is back home.”