I met Jim Smith on the radio after Annette Donner suggested that I interview him about the Last Mission. His story was intriguing and he was interviewed on other shows too. Smith's effort to let the truth be known about the events that really ended WWII, were tirelessness. It paid off. He coauthored a book entitled The Last Mission, and the History Channel produced a show about The Last Mission. Two years before he died, he was selected as the 2007 Grand Marshal for the Liberation Day Parade - an honor he relished because he considered himself a symbol for all the men and woman who served in WWII.
His son Darin Mauer had the opportunity to returned to Guam recently with his family to bring him back to his final resting place. Jim Smith loved Guam. Darin and his family do too. The girls didn't want to leave. Maybe they'll be back to stay one day.
Migai Na Si Yu’os Ma’åsi
"Life is a crude inventor; fiction will only be convincing if it is more artful than life." Carmel Bird
Rlene Santos Steffy
MARC Research Associate
Ethnographer/Oral Historian
University of Guam
210 Archbishop Flores St.
Hagåtña, Guam 96910
http://www.rlenelive.com
rlene@rlenelive.com
voice: (671) 888-1010
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