Hugh Edwin Smith was the third child of Hugh Argus Smith and Dessie Lee Gammill Smith. He was born on September 27, 1943 in Greenwood, Mississippi but moved to West Point when he was an infant in December, 1943. Mr. Smith graduated from West Point High School where he was a member of the chorus and the boys' quartet. During his high school years, he worked after school and weekends at a local grocery store and continued working there after graduation. He was an active member of the First Baptist Church.

Mr. Smith was enlisted in the U.S. Army in the spring of 1967 and received his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He received advanced training at Fort Polk, Louisiana and was promoted to Private First Class.

He was assigned to the 21st Infantry Division, the famed American Division, which was part of the 196th Light Brigade. PFC. Smith was sent to Vietnam on July 10, 1967 as a replacement with Company B, 3rd Battalion.

Since April 1967, elements of the 196th Light Brigade had been conducting combat operations as a part of Task Force Oregon, with the objective of securing and holding the area around Chu Lai for use as an Army air field. PFC. Smith and the 3rd Battalion were engaged in nearly constant hostile action against the 2nd North Vietnamese Regular Army Division during July and August, 1967.

During this battle, on August 15, 1967, Private First Class Hugh Edwin Smith was wounded by small arms fire and subsequently died of his wounds the same day. The Army posthumously awarded Private Smith the Bronze Star for Meritorious Service in ground operations against hostile forces during the period July 10, 1967 through August 15, 1967.

Private Smith's body was returned to his family in West Point and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery. He was survived by his mother, two sisters and a brother.