Wife remembers Army Sgt. 1st Class Jason Smith as ‘amazing father, soldier and husband’
Those who knew Sgt. 1st Class Jason M. Smith readily remembered him as “an all-around good guy.”
Calling Smith’s death “a devastating loss,” Smith’s wife, Trisha Andrews Smith, said, “He was an amazing father, soldier and husband. He loved his family, his job and his country.”
On Friday, the U.S. Army identified Smith was one of a four-man crew that died in a helicopter crash Nov. 23 at Fort Hood in Texas.
Entering active duty in June 2000, Smith was a UH-60 Blackhawk Helicopter repairer.
His service included having been deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, August 2004 – March 2005; Operation Enduring Freedom, September 2011 – 2012; and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, September 2014 to May 2015 with these more recent campaigns in global terrorism support.
Smith also was a decorated veteran who received numerous awards and decorations including a Bronze Star medal, two Air medals, two Army Commendation medals, four Army Achievement medals, five Army Good Conduct medals, a National Defense Service Medal, a Humanitarian Service Medal and numerous others.
Smith and his wife, both natives of Destrehan, had recently moved to Texas with their three sons.
In Destrehan, Webb Jay, who went to school with Smith, said he was “an all-around good guy.”
“A real great guy … always has been,” Jay said of Smith, a friend since eighth grade and classmate at Destrehan High School (DHS). “In high school, we were pretty close.
Smith graduated from DHS in 1998 while Jay communicated with his family through social media. He reached out to them when he got the news that Smith was killed when the UH-60L Blackhawk helicopter he was in crashed on a routine training mission.
Jay said Smith had lived four houses down from where he lived growing up in the area. He was Smith’s parents’ real estate agent when he got out of high school.
Jay recalled later walking into Smith at the Winn-Dixie there and saw him with his three sons. “From what I could gather, he had become quite a family man.”
Smith, 35, died along with fellow Marines Sgt. 1st Class Toby A. Childers, 40, of Hays, Kan., Chief Warrant Officer 3 Stephen B. Cooley, 40, of Cantonment, Fla., and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael F. Tharp, 40, of Katy, Texas.
Rocky Conzonere of Laplace also remembered Smith as ”a really good guy and a good father” and knew him well because he was family.Smith married Conzonere’s first cousin, Trisha Andrews. They spent a lot of time together when they lived in Destrehan.“He kind of kept to himself, but he was a really good guy,” Conzonere said. “He went overseas seven times and then dies in a training mission. He died for our freedom so we could have our good lives.”
The couple moved to Hopemills, N.C., in 2011 and then relocated to Harker Heights, Texas, this year, according to Trisha Smith’s Facebook page.
The four Marines were on a routine training mission when their helicopter went down about 6 p.m. in the northeast portion of Fort Hood’s sprawling military post about 60 miles north of Austin, according to the Army.
Fort Hood covers 214,000 acres, making it one of the Army’s largest posts in the United States. Of this acreage, 135,000 acres are reserved for training.
Cause of the crash is unknown and under investigation by a team from the Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Ala. that arrived at Fort Hood last week. Emergency crews say the four were found dead when they got to the scene.
All four crew members were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 291st Aviation Regiment, First Army Division West, 1st Army. Smith had been assigned to the battalion since Oct. 29. The aircraft, was assigned to the 7th Battalion, 158th Aviation Regiment, according to the Army.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the death of four First Army Division West Soldiers as a result of a UH-60L helicopter crash that happened Monday evening sometime after 5:49 p.m.,” Maj. Gen. Jeffrey N. Colt, commanding general, First Army Division West said in a statement last Tuesday. “I want to extend my deepest sympathies and prayers to the families and friends of the soldiers involved in yesterday’s crash.”
On Monday, U.S. Army investigators recovered the flight data recorder from the helicopter. III Corps and Fort Hood confirmed the data recorder, similar to the “black box” carried on civilian aircraft, had been found, but could not say exactly when.
Services for Smith will be held Dec. 8, Tuesday. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m. at L.A. Muhleisen & Sons Funeral Home, 2607 Williams Blvd, Kenner. Services will begin at 1 p.m. with burial following at Jefferson Memorial Gardens, 11316 River Road, Saint Rose.
Because of Smith’s love for the LSU Tigers, visitors are asked to honor him by wearing purple and gold in their attire.
Following burial, family and friends are welcome to the KC Hall, 375 Spruce St. in Norco, from 3 to 6 p.m. To donate food items for the gathering, text or call Sandy at (225) 3624681 Sandy. Money donations are welcome.
Email messages or photos to the family until Saturday for a slide show about Smith to memoriesofsfcjasonsmith@gmail.com.
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