LOCAL

Veterans Column: Newark's Kenneth Smith serves as air escort for King George VI in WWII

Doug Stout
Guest Columnist
Kenneth B. Smith joined the Army after graduation from Newark High School in September 1939. During World War II, he served as an air escort for King George VI.

When Kenneth B. Smith joined the Army after graduation from Newark High School in September of 1939, he never expected that he would be rubbing elbows with royalty in the future.

The South Central Avenue resident received his basic training at Cochran Field, Georgia. From there, he went to Jackson, Mississippi for his flight training. In October of 1942, Staff Sergeant Smith was stationed in Petersburg, Florida. Smith and his flight squadron were sent to Africa in November of 1942, it was here that he would have his encounter with British royalty.

After the British Army defeated German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel at the Battle of El-Alamein in November of 1942, the Germans began their withdrawal from North Africa. England’s King George VI decided to pay a visit to his troops in June of 1943. His trip was codenamed, “General Lyon” and he arrived in Algiers on June 12. For the next two weeks, he toured British installations and even spent some time with General Ike Eisenhower and the American Army.

An article in the July 22, 1943, Newark Advocate related the 22-year-old Smith’s contact with the King: “My son says the King is a regular Joe,’ Mrs. Ada A. Smith told a friend recently. Her son readily qualifies for giving his opinion. In a recent V-Mail letter Smith told how he was the personal fighter escort for King George VI during his visit to Africa. ‘The king is a nice looking fellow and made quite a hit with the fellows here.’ In the letter telling of his escorting the king over Africa, Ken writes, ‘Been on 17-hour duty and we don’t get any overtime or a $2 a day raise in pay either. We’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do it.”

Kenneth B. Smith joined the Army after graduation from Newark High School in September 1939. During World War II, he served as an air escort for King George VI.

By November of 1944, Smith was back in the states and while on leave in Newark, he married Justine Woolard at St. Johns Evangelical Church. Smith received his discharge in July of 1945 after having attained the rank of First Lieutenant. He returned to Licking County where he worked in an office at Denison University while he attended school there. They were the first residents of the newly remodeled College Town House owned by the school just east of the Granville Inn. The next year, Smith was hired as the Court Bailiff for Judge Harvey Alexander. He later worked as an executive for the Copco Paper Company, which was the job from which he retired.

King George’s escort, First Lieutenant Kenneth Barton Smith Sr., 85, passed away on September 27, 2006, and is buried at Clarendon Hills Cemetery in Darien, Illinois.

Doug Stout is the Veterans Project Coordinator for the Licking County Library. You may contact him at 740-349-5571 or dstout@lickingcountylibrary.org. His book "Never Forgotten: The Stories of Licking County Veterans" is available for purchase at the library or online at bookbaby.com.