As the two men strolled on the runway, Smith stopped briefly to look around and get his bearings. It was a walk Smith had planned for more than 50 years.
The 74-year-old Playa Del Rey, Calif., resident was last on Guam during and shortly after World War II. He returned Monday to visit the island and walk with his son Darin Maurer on the runway from which B-29 crew members launched the last bombing mission of the war.
Smith was a radio operator in the 20th Air Force 315th Bomb Wing. He wrote a book titled "The Last Mission," which describes a 17-hour bombing mission following the atomic bomb drop on Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945.
"Surrender wasn't forthcoming," Smith said yesterday.
According to Smith's book, rebel Japanese forces were planning to kidnap the emperor of Japan and keep the war going. The last raid by the B-29s took out much of Japan's oil refineries. A resulting power outage in Tokyo prevented the rebels from kidnaping the emperor, Smith wrote, and allowed the Japanese leader to surrender.
Smith was part of that mission and has known since the end of the war that he would return to Guam.
"I've been planning it for 54 years," he said.
But the trip didn't happen until Maurer arranged the visit as a Christmas gift.
Maurer first got the idea to bring his father to Guam about 10 years ago, when the two were talking about another B-29 crew member who planned to visit the island. The idea sort of stagnated, then Maurer surprised his father last Christmas.
"He's still healthy enough and mobile enough to get around and do these kinds of things ... so it was pretty critical this year," Maurer said.
The men will leave Guam Saturday.
Smith credits Maurer not only with getting him back to Guam, but also with inspiring him to write the book. A lot of research was required for the book, Smith said, but Maurer told him to just do it.
Maurer, a pilot for Continental Airlines and based in Houston, gives his dad credit for his career. Maurer said he first developed a desire to fly when he was 5-years-old. Smith put him on the pilot's seat of a small passenger plane. Maurer flew the plane off the runway and into the sky.
Smith walked on the old runway yesterday retracing steps, telling Maurer of take-off and landing maneuvers, and remembering an accident that killed another crew member.
"All the memories rush in," the veteran said. "The only thing that kind of breaks me up is the crew isn't here with me."
He added that his role in the mission was minimal compared to other crew members.
"I'm' a grain of sand on the beach, but at least I was a member of the team."