RIO BLANCO PUBLISHING

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stephen F. Smith was born in September 1942 in Ft. Lewis, Washington. His dad, Foster Carrol Smith (known throughout a big part of his life as "Blanco" Smith) was stationed in Ft. Lewis as part of the armored force training for the eventual D-Day invasion. Stephen graduated Texas A&M class of 1965. He was a member of the corps of cadets and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the army, serving in Vietnam during 1967 and 1968 with the 101st Airborne Division.

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Stephen's first book, Shadows of the River, is a history of the Blanco River Valley beginning in prehistoric times and includes the Spaniard's 300 years, Western expansion of the United States, the colonists, The Texas Frontier, The Civil War period, pioneer settlers along the Blanco River and information about the Comanche, Apache, and Tonkawa Indians. This book also includes information about some of the original settlers, the Trainer's, Artzt, Elbel, and Smith families. This book is a must for those avid readers who love Texas history.

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The second book, Omaha Beach to Tet, is a collection of personal accounts that Blanco Smith related about his WWII days. World War II events came alive for generations of kids at Blanco High School in his world history class. Stephen made a record of these personal accounts and used them as the basis for the book. A notable photo taken of Blanco was taken after the war at Hitler's famous retreat in the Alps and includes the hand-crafted sign stating that "Hitler doesn't live here anymore". Stephen's Vietnam service, along with several family members from WWII, Korea, and Vietnam are included in the book. The term "Tet" is a reference to the major offensive by the enemy forces during Stephen's time in Vietnam.