BRUNSWICK

When Col. Peter Ogden, director of the Maine Bureau of Veteran Services, called the name of her grandfather during the “Honor a Veteran” program portion of the Veterans Day Service on Monday, Krystle Smith threw up her arm and proudly marched down the center aisle toward Ogden announcing, “I’m his granddaughter.”

As Smith, on behalf of her grandfather,

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Frank E. Smith, a veteran of World War II and Vietnam, was presented certificates of appreciation, she fought back tears.

Smith, of Brunswick, said her grandfather died in 2001 when she was 15, and “We didn’t even know he had served overseas. … My grandmother never knew and my grandfather never talked about it so we never knew. We actually didn’t find out he served until after we got his file from the military and he had already been put in the ground. This is an extreme honor for me and my father and something we wanted for years.”

Born and raised in Lubec, her grandfather joined the military at age 15; his sister wrote permission for him to enter the military at that young age, Smith said. He served for six years. He was always an avid advocate for veterans, but “we honestly didn’t realize his own story.”

As a younger generation, “we don’t realize what our grandparents have to tell us until now.” During those six years he served during World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Cold War, she said.

The fact that he didn’t talk about it was sad, Smith said, because “I wanted him to be recognized for his sacrifice,” after more than 10 years. “I remember the day he passed away and I felt so bad he wasn’t able to get recognized before he passed away, so this for me was great. It was a great day for me, and it will definitely go up on the wall where it will go into a beautiful frame.”

Smith, 27, can’t serve in the military for medical reasons, but would have enlisted in the Navy if she could. She is an advocate and a fulltime volunteer for veterans. She said, “This is my way to give back to my grandfather and the men who served and gave me my freedom.”

Veterans, male and female, who served the United States military during World War II and ongoing conflicts and all wars in between were also recognized during the ceremony on the former base, outside the home of the newly established Mid-Coast Veterans Council at 62 Pegasus St. Marines from the USMC Reserve Center posted colors and the Maine National Guard Rifle Detail saluted the veterans. The day’s proceedings were backdropped by a P-3 plane.

Several flags pierced the cool grassy ground next to the plane recognizing the two Brunswick-based VP-26 aircrews lost over Vietnam in 1968. Crew 8 lost 12 men on Feb. 6 and less than two months later on April 1, another 12 men were lost.

Standing near the makeshift memorial after Monday’s service, Lt. Cmdr. Fred Schwab, who maintained the aircraft, pointed to the P-3 and said, “That’s the airplane right there; that’s what they got shot down in.”

He was a member of the VP-26 squadron and these were all guys he knew; one of them was his roommate. They were deployed to Southeast Asia when shot down. The planes were designed to fly high but he said the crews must have been flying pretty low to be hit with 20-millimeter ground fire, possibly by some sort of ship or patrol boat.

“I got a chance to put one of them back together,” but didn’t get far on the other. He had with him a stack of small black and white photos he took of the wreckage he helped piece together. One day you’re working on the plane, “then here you are putting it together.” He kept the pictures in memory of the crewmen.

“We lost 24 shipmates,” and the most men in one squadron since World War II, Schwab said. “When you lose 24 men in two months …”

Schwab said he does think about the men more and more as he gets older. The service Monday let him and some other VP-26 squadron members who attended, take time to remember those lost crewmen.

Schwab served 30 years in the Navy, retiring in 1990, “but you don’t forget.”

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