<p>Sam Smith grew up in Michigan. He joined the Marine Corps and served in Viet Nam in the infantry during some of the heaviest fighting of the war in 1967 and 1968. He was at Khe Sanh for the siege, where he was exposed to Agent Orange. He returned home to an America unaccepting of veterans. He returned to work as a welder and then an electrician. A neurological disease altered his life, after which he went to college and earned an Electrical Engineering degree and worked as a test engineer for 26 years before retiring</p>
