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While employed at General Electric, he was awarded two patents, published numerous technical documents and publications, and worked on special assignments with the United States Air Force, NASA and the United States Navy Submarine Command. Mr. Smith is a division chairman in tile Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Aerospace International, and vice chairman of Radnor Township School Authority, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Mr. Smith worked for three years (1992-1995) to have a Tuskegee Airmen Memorial established at Ramitelli Airbase in Italy, but the effort was dropped because of weak support. In May 1995, Luther Smith represented the United States Army Air Corps (USAF) in a group of seven World War II veterans in a United States delegation headed by President and Mrs. Clinton, Vice President and Mrs. Gore, and Gore and Secretary of the Army and Mrs. Togo West on a historic and memorable 50th anniversary "V -E Day Celebration in Europe" trip to the United Kingdom, Czech Republic and Russia. The tour was done in conjunction with the Department of Defense’s (DOD) four year, 50th Anniversary of WW II Commemoration. Between July and November 1995, Mr. Smith initiated and worked with the US Department of Defense (DOD) 50th Anniversary of World War II Commemoration Committee and the US Air Force in the preparation of a special Tuskegee Airmen Memorial Program that included a memorial plaque and a living tree memorial that were (dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery., Virginia on November 10, 1995. The memorial program and plaque were in recognition of the Tuskegee Airmen contributions in World War II. In 1996, Mr. Smith was appointed to a special-engineer-architect evaluation board that selected the winning design among 406 entries for a national World War II Memorial that will be located on the National Mall in Washington, DC between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. He then worked with TAI and other groups that enabled TAI to contribute over $25.000 to the World War II Memorial fund (1998-1999)In 1997, 1998 and 2000, Mr. Smith testified before the National Commission of Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission in Washington. DC. supporting the approval of the World War II Memorial. On Veterans Day, November 11. 2000. Mr. Smith participated in the ground breaking ceremony for the World War II Memorial, on the National Mall in Washington. DC, along with President Clinton, and others. On May 15.2000, Mr. Smith delivered the graduation address at Valley Forge Military Academy. Wayne. PA. The address honored General B. 0. Davis. Jr. for his historic career as a military leader. Luther Smith is a charter member of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen Inc. (TAI). Mr. Smith and his wife, Lois, live in Villanova. Pennsylvania. They have two children. Deborah and Gordon. Both are graduates of Princeton University. Deborah is Vice President of State Street Bank of Boston, Massachusetts, and Gordon is Vice President, Bank of New York. New York. NY.
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