Honoree: Eric A. Smith

Hometown: Rochester, NY
Branch of Service: Army
Rank: Chief Warrant Officer 3
Player: Ryan Voois
Army Chief Warrant Officer 3 Eric Smith, 41, of Rochester, New York, was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. On April 2, 2003, CW3 Smith was among seven U.S. soldiers killed in a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crash near Karbala, Iraq.
A native New Yorker, CW3 Smith grew up in the Rochester area and graduated from Brighton High School in 1980. He graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a business degree in 1984. Since childhood, CW3 Smith loved to fly. He enlisted in the Army so he could fly helicopters. Over the course of his sixteen-year career, he flew over 4,000 missions. He was a helicopter instructor with the 2nd Battalion 3rd Aviation Regiment of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division.
“He loved teaching, and he made a million friends,” said his father, Theodore Smith. "Eric," Rabbi Marvin Bash said, "was one of the heroes who gave his full life, his full strength and his full being to the cause of freedom. Eric was fearless, admired, and loved by his fellow pilots. He was lively and outgoing, stoic and strong."
CW3 Smith never married. He is survived by his mother, Lillian Lake.