Technician Fourth Grade Reuben “Tood” Smiddy, Jr., an American soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country, has been officially accounted for after eighty-four years of being missing in action.
Reuben Smiddy, Jr. was born on October 15, 1908, in Campbell County, Tennessee, to Reuben W. Smiddy, Sr. (1855–1934), a coal miner, and Matilda Potter Smiddy (1876-1962). Known as “Tood” to his family and friends, Reuben grew up in a family with four siblings: Mollie Welch, Alfred Smiddy, Larance Smiddy and Calvin “Cal” Smiddy. He completed an eighth-grade education before his entry into the service.
Reuben entered the U.S. Army from Kentucky, officially enlisting at the Knoxville recruiting station on June 9, 1937. He underwent basic training at Fort Oglethorpe and Fort McPherson, Georgia, from June 17 to July 31, 1937.
His extensive military record included:
1937: He traveled aboard the U.S.A.T. St. Mihiel (Manifest Line 182), debarking at Pier 2, New York Port of Embarkation
(N.Y.P.E.) in Brooklyn, New York, on August 2, 1937, arriving from Savannah, Georgia.
1937: He was sent to Fort McDowell, California, where he was stationed from August 24–28, 1937.
1937: He departed Fort McDowell on August 28, 1937, aboard the U.S.A.T. Republic (Manifest Line 124).
He traveled in Troop Class, 2nd Section, Squadroom “D”-“F” Deck, bound for the Hawaiian Department.
1937–1939: He joined Company “F,” 3rd Engineers at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, on September 4, 1937.
He was promoted to Private First Class in January 1939. During his service in Hawaii, he was hospitalized at Schofield
Barracks (June 14–July 9, 1939) and was granted a furlough at Nanakuli. He transferred as a Private to Engineers
unassigned at Fort McDowell, California, on September 20, 1939.
1939–1941: He joined the Detachment Quartermaster Corps at Maxwell Field, Alabama, on November 17, 1939.
By 1941, he was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he was hospitalized from March 10–22, 1941.
During this time, he was assigned to the 19th Ordnance Company, which worked closely with the 192nd Tank Battalion.
On August 17, 1941, the 19th was redesignated as the 17th Ordnance Company, and he was subsequently deployed to the
Philippine Islands as the military presence in the region was built up.
Following the fall of the Philippines, Reuben was captured and imprisoned at Camp O’Donnell. On May 21, 1942, the Japanese conscripted a 300-man detail for the Tayabas Road Project near Calauag, Quezon Province.
Bilibid Prison records from May 23, 1942, documented the group’s arrival from Camp O’Donnell: Four U.S. Army officers and two hundred ninety-six enlisted men, U. S, Army, Navy and Marine Corps, arrived at this camp from Camp O’Donnell, Tarlac, P. I. , this date. The general health of this group is poor. Eighty percent of these men suffered from malaria, beriberi, and other illnesses.
The following day, the draft departed for an unknown destination. The men traveled by truck to Pasay Elementary School in Manila, where medical personnel provided care to the most severely ill and arranged for five replacements. On May 24, they departed by truck, stopping at an abandoned sugar mill in Batangas Province before reaching their work location after a long hike on May 28. One man died along the trail.
The journey was grueling: the men started out on trucks and then boarded railroad flatcars. After traveling three days, they were forced to march fifteen miles up and down jungle hills while suffering from fevers and dysentery. Upon stopping after a bridge, they were shown a flat point bar of rocks with the dark jungle looming behind them. The area provided no cover, and they were forced to sleep on the bare rocks with no protection from the monsoons. The men dug out the rocks to sleep in the mud, where they were immediately attacked by mosquitoes.
The next day, the forced labor began. Using only wheelbarrows, picks, and shovels provided by their captors, the men were tasked with clearing the dense jungle and building a road. They subsisted on the small rations they had brought with them—rice and corned beef hash—using a rusty old wheelbarrow covered with concrete as an improvised stove. The work of clearing huge roots and hauling heavy wheelbarrows through the muck was relentless, and as the men weakened, their numbers dwindled as they began to die. Lacking shelter, mosquito nets, clean water, or medicine, they were ravaged by dysentery, malaria, pneumonia, and other tropical diseases. After eight weeks, the men were forced to leave the site as no one remained strong enough to work. When the 107 survivors were examined by doctors upon their return, they were so severely wasted they were termed “the living dead.”
According to records kept by the doctors, Technician Fourth Grade Smiddy died of dysentery on Monday, June 1, 1942. He was buried on a riverbank, fifty feet from a large Japanese-built bridge and 100 yards from the road.
On June 25, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur ordered the exhumation of those buried at the site. The American Graves Registration Service recovered 40 sets of remains, but only one could be identified. These remains were buried in multiple plots at the United States Armed Forces Cemetery #1 in Batangas on July 24, 1945, and later reburied as “Unknowns” at the American Military Cemetery in Manila.
In 2020, as part of a mission to identify veterans killed in action, the U.S. military reached out to the Smiddy family. The family provided DNA samples, initiating a multi-year forensic investigation. Through these efforts, the remains of Reuben “Tood” Smiddy, Jr. were positively identified in 2026.
After eighty-four years, this brave soldier has been brought home. His return provides long-awaited closure to his family and serves as a testament to our nation’s promise to never forget those who served.
A graveside service with military honors will be conducted for TEC4 Reuben “Tood” Smiddy, Jr. on Saturday, September 12, 2026 at 1:00 pm at the Andes Cemetery in East Bernstadt.
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