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Casualty Info
Home Town Huffman, TX
Casualty Date Dec 11, 2013
Cause Non Hostile- Died of Illness, Other Injury
Reason Other Cause
Location Germany
Location of Interment Bailey Cemetery - Alton, Missouri
He was a reservist assigned to a Louisiana-based Seabee unit deployed to Afghanistan died Dec. 11, 2013 in Germany, a Defense Department news release announced thathe was the first sailor death related to Operation Enduring Freedom since September, according to DoD.
Construction Mechanic 1st Class James L. Smith, 38, of Huffman, Texas, died as a result of a non-combat-related incident, the DoD release said. He was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 28, the Old Pros, based out of Barksdale Air Force Base.
NMCB 28 took over command authority of Camp Toles, in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, in mid-September of 2013 after three months of training in California, according to a Navy news release; Smith"s personnel records show him reporting to the unit June 25. His pay entry base date was Oct. 1, 1993, according to Navy records.
Smith was a patient at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at the time of his death, but the Navy press releases had no further information on what led to the hospitalization or any details on the incident that caused the reservist"s death. All that was reported was that CM1 Smith died of natural causes.
