By Staff Sgt. Regina Edwards, 19th Airlift Wing Public Affairs

(This feature is part of the “Through Airmen’s Eyes” series. These stories focus on individual Airmen, highlighting their Air Force story.)

Tuskegee aircrew was one of his best memories. (U.S. Air Force illustration/Staff. Sgt. Regina Edwards)“I’ve come a long way from picking cotton in the fields with my grandfather,” said retired Master Sgt. Leroy Mazell Smith, who has lived a life few could probably imagine. 

He was born on an Arkansas bridge during the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927; son of a logger and farmer, Smith grew up in Pine Bluff, Ark. His mother, who cared for him and his two siblings, left school at the age of 13.

He credits his upbringing to his grandfather whom Smith picked cotton with. He said his grandfather taught him the value of hard work and perseverance.

Smith graduated from high school in Fordyce, Ark., at the age of 16. While there, he attended preflight aeronautical classes, changing the course of his future.