Press Releases

U.S. Representative Anthony Gonzalez (R-Rocky River) today released a new Thank-a-Vet Thursday (#TVT) video featuring U.S. Navy Veteran Glenn Smith from Summit County, who served our nation during World War II. Glenn sadly passed away shortly after this filming. Congressman Gonzalez honored his life on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives last month.

Glenn was a Navy Seabee and served from our country from August 1943 to July 1945. He Glenn was drafted into the Navy at age 19 and shipping out alongside 7,600 other men to Honolulu on Christmas Eve 1943 to help rebuild the barracks there. Glenn went on to serve in the pacific theater and at the end of the war was flown from Saipan to Pearl Harbor where he took the USS Constellation home. When Glenn returned to Akron, he did odd jobs until spending time in real estate, construction and rental properties. Glenn passed away on January 22^nd, 2020 at his home, but his legacy will live on forever.

Before his passing, Congressman Gonzalez’s office had the honor of presenting Glenn with his long-lost military service medals earned during World War II. For his service, Glenn received the World War II Victory Medal and the Asiatic Campaign Medal.

Glenn’s story is shared on Rep. Gonzalez’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages as part of Rep. Gonzalez’s #TVT social media initiative to thank veterans for their service and is an excerpt of a longer interview conducted for the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. Rep. Gonzalez invites and encourages social media users to post photos and videos using #TVT to recognize America’s military veterans. All #TVT videos can be found on Rep. Gonzalez’s YouTube channel and official Facebook page.

Watch Congressman Gonzalez’s tribute to Glenn on the House floor here.