Son’s Tour in Gulf War Brought Pride, Fear to Councilman
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Walnut City Councilman Drexel L. Smith had a good excuse for arriving 15 minutes late for Wednesday’s council session. He had been at El Toro Marine Base to welcome his son, Cpl. Tony Smith, back from the Persian Gulf.
“It’s a feeling of great relief,” Smith said of his reunion with the youngest of his four children. “Having your son involved in that situation was pride and fear all mixed together.”
The younger Smith, 21, was sent to the Persian Gulf last August in one of the early military support groups. He spent seven months in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain assembling and loading bombs and missiles onto Marine warplanes.
“They often worked days without a break to keep those planes going,” Councilman Smith said.
He and his wife Jacki, a librarian at Vejar Elementary in Walnut, were with a large family contingent including Tony’s wife Patty and their children Anthony and Clinton in the greeting party at El Toro.
Fellow council members chided Smith for even attending the council session on such an occasion. But he explained that Tony and Patty wanted to be alone after their seven-month separation.
“I was excused,” he said.
“Drexel probably has a combat boot print on his back,” joked Councilman H. Thomas Sykes.
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