ORANGE PARK – George Smith was just barely 17 years old when he enlisted into the United State Marine Corps in November of 1942.

Now 93, Smith still looks back on his time as a Marine with a smile on his face. For him, the Marines were an opportunity to serve his country, get away from high school and travel to places he’d always wanted to go, like China.

“I dropped out of high school my senior year,” Smith said. “I just never really liked school. I never took home a book. So, when I turned 17, I tried to enlist and two months later, I finally got in.”

Enlisting for the military was so popular during World War II, it took two months for him to apply and be accepted. Smith said everyone he knew was trying to get into the military. After his acceptance, Smith went from his small country home outside of Scranton, Pa., to the big city of Philadelphia.

“That was the first time I had ever been on a train,” Smith said.

From Philadelphia, Smith said he and about 300 others were jammed into a train that took them from the east coast to California for basic training.

“I was just a 17-year-old kid who had never been on a train and all of a sudden, I was on a train going to California with hundreds of others,” Smith said.

After basic training in California, he was sent to North Carolina in the early months of 1943. That September, he headed overseas for the first time. Smith’s first stop overseas was Hawaii, where the attack on Pearl Harbor had taken place roughly two years earlier. Smith said he spent about four months there before being transferred to Midway Island, an island territory in the Pacific Ocean that’s equidistant between North America and Asia. The trip from Hawaii to Midway was a trip Smith said he won’t forget – and not just because it was his first ever flight.

“We were on a two-engine R5C transport plane running back and forth between Midway Island and Hawaii,” Smith said. “One way there, we’d have tailwind and on the way to Midway, we’d have headwind.”

Smith remembers sitting in a bucket seat near the back of the plane, rifle in hand, in front of hundreds of pounds of additional cargo. About two-thirds of the way through the flight, the pilot told Smith and other Marines since the R5C was fighting against headwind, it may not have enough fuel to make it to Midway.

To counteract this, the pilot instructed everyone to begin tossing as much as they could out the back of the plane.

“We threw all of the cargo out, even the parachutes,” Smith said. “We even threw out our rifles. A Marine never loses his rifle but we lost them that day.”

The only thing left in the cargo deck of the plane was a bunch of Marines with nothing but their clothes.

“For someone new to flying, that was a pretty interesting day,” Smith said. “I remember just looking at a picture I had of my girlfriend trying to keep my mind off of what was happening.”

The plane eventually made it to Midway, but not without taking its toll on the men. Smith doesn’t talk much about the rest of his time in the Marines during World War II, but he remembers being the only Marine stationed in Hawaii that wanted to be somewhere else.

“I wanted to go to China, but I was stuck in Hawaii,” Smith said. “I was probably the only person in Hawaii complaining about being there.”

Smith got word a year later he could finally go to China. Once in China, Smith became a millionaire of sorts. The idea of communism had just begun its widespread entrance into the country, and it wasn’t long before rapid inflation took place. According to Smith, and American dollar was worth $13 million in Chinese currency.

“We were rich,” Smith said. “I remember trading in $50 and receiving stacks of million-dollar bills there and stuffing every pocket I had with money. I had buddies throwing stacks of money into ceiling fans in bars because we all had so much.”

Smith fought in the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In between that, he met his wife in 1953. They just celebrated 66 years of marriage on July 6. They went on to have two children.

Smith and is wife moved to Florida when he got out of the military in 1969.

Smith, who was in his 40s, attended college for the first time at Jacksonville University. Following that, he began teaching in Clay County. He eventually moved here in 1993 and he continued to teach until his retirement in 1997.

Smith is a rarity in Clay County having both served the country as a Marine for almost 27 years and serving the county’s children as a teacher for more than 20 years.

“I’d like to say something extraordinary made me do it, but I had seen people get out of the military and just lounge around, drink, not do much,” Smith said. “I still wanted something to do so I went to college and then taught after that.”

With a long teaching career behind him now, and an even longer military career, Smith said he’s happy to live in a county that takes such good care of its veterans.

“I like it here,” Smith said. “They take care of veterans in Clay County. There’s always a luncheon or honorary service going on for [veterans].”

Even after 93 years, including a decorated stint with the U.S. Marine Corps and a long tenure in the education system, Smith doesn’t feel he did anything special.

“I don’t know why anyone would celebrate me. I’m just another regular guy.”

Clay County would tell Smith otherwise.