Author: Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist
Earlie Wright Smith was born on February 24, 1892, in Harnett County, North Carolina, to David Emmett and Julia Frances Smith. By 1910, the Smith family was living in Black River Township in Harnett County on the family farm, where Earlie’s father David worked as a farmer. At the time of his draft registration for World War I, Earlie Smith was living in what was then called West Durham, N.C., and worked at a dairy farm in the same part of Durham.
Earlie Smith was inducted into military service for WWI on October 5, 1917, in Durham, N.C. He served during the war in Battery C, 317th Field Artillery, U.S. Army, until June 4, 1918. Smith was transferred to Headquarters Company, 317th Field Artillery, in which unit he served until his discharge. He reached the rank of corporal on July 1, 1918. Smith served overseas in Europe from August 7, 1918, to June 8, 1919, and was honorably discharged on June 20, 1919.
After the war, Earlie Smith moved back to his family’s Harnett County farm. He married Adna Myrtle Byrd on December 23, 1921, in Lee County, N.C. By 1930, the couple was living in Harnett County, N.C., while Earlie worked as a farmer. Later in life, Earlie Smith came to live in the city of Fuquay-Varina in Wake County, N.C. Earlie W. Smith died on February 26, 1974, and was buried in the Chalybeate Springs Cemetery in Harnett, County, N.C.
To learn more about Earlie Smith’s WWI service, check out his collection Earlie W. Smith Papers (WWI 42) held in the WWI Papers of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina in Raleigh, N.C.
This blog post is part of the State Archives of North Carolina’s World War I Social Media Project, an effort to bring original WWI archival materials to the public through the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources’ (NCDNCR) various social media platforms, in order to increase access to the items during the WWI centennial celebration by the state of North Carolina.
Between February 2017 and June 2019, the State Archives of North Carolina will be posting blog articles, Facebook posts, and Twitter posts, featuring WWI archival materials which are posted on the exact 100th anniversary of their creation during the war. Blog posts will feature interpretations of the content of WWI documents, photographs, diary entries, posters, and other records, including scans of the original archival materials, held by the State Archives of North Carolina, and will be featured in NCDNCR’s WWI centennial blog.