Out of 16 million WWII veterans, 240,329 remain alive today, as of Sept. 3oth. On average, 234 pass away each day and within approximately 2.5 years, these heroes will no longer be available as a primary source. For Fresno Christian’s annual Veterans Day chapel,  99 yr. old, Nyle Smith joins local radio host Paul Loeffler to tell more about his service to our country in the Air Force.

Smith spent 22 years in service during both WWII and Vietnam. He shares his heroic story about surviving a B-17 crash and saving all but one of the others on board while being hit with shrapnel, which remains in his hip today. While everyone he saved got a ticket home, Smith remained in Europe to serve and even survived a close call with a bomb in London.

Smith was honored with the Soldiers Medal of Valor, Purple Heart, Bronze Star and a Good Conduct Medal. When asked if he considers himself a hero his response is like many veterans.

“No, I’m not a hero,” Smith says.”I was just doing my job.”

Each year FC students have a unique opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from Veterans that Hometown Heroes host Paul Loeffler interviews on stage. Many of these Veterans have had the chance to fly on the Central Valley Honor Flight and visit their Memorials in Washington DC. This year’s honored guest gave an interview to Feather journalist, Amanda Johnson who will be sharing more about Smith’s story in an upcoming article.

For more photos, visit the media page.

For more articles, read College Corner: An almost normal application season and Jake’s ‘Blue Devil’.

Photos contain Nyle Smith recounting events from WWII during Veterans day chapel.

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