Mel Smith

Mel Smith was born August 15, 1948 in Helena, Montana. He grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood very similar to the one described in "NAM, The Story of a Generation" which he used for inspiration in writing the book.

As a senior in high school, he joined the Naval Reserves in the fall of 1966 and started his active duty in July, 1968 following his freshman year at Montana State University, He was assigned to the destroyer U.S.S. Taylor out of Pearl Harbor, just after it was deployed on a six month West Pacific tour. Having no formal military schooling, on his tour with the Taylor he was a member of the deck force sweeping and swabbing, standing bridge watch and working in the handling room of a five inch mount when the ship was stationed on the gun line off Nam. In the spring of '69 he transferred to the U.S.S. DeHaven out of Long Beach, California, which left two months later on its own West Pacific tour. On the DeHaven he had the position of Postal Clerk and took over the ship’s post office. Like many servicemen, he was given an early out in April of 1970, as Nixon was winding down the war

He returned to Montana State University and completed a B.S. in Film and Television, graduating in June 1973. He worked for several media outlets following graduation before launching his own advertising agency which he ran for nearly three and a half decades.

Mel Smith currently lives in Queen Creek, Arizona with his wife, Alane. He has three children and four grandchildren.