USS Wasp Memorializes Sailor Killed in Chattanooga

USS WASP (DVIDS) 

Story by Petty Officer 3rd Class Zhiwei Tan

Sailor killed in Chattanooga remembered aboard USS Wasp 

NORFOLK, Va. (July 23, 2015) Sailors Marines and civilians attend the memorial service of Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith held aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). Smith served on Wasp May 26, 2011, until July 25, 2014, and died due to the injures sustained during active shooter incident in Chattanooga, Tenn.

More than 400 Sailors, friends and families attended a memorial service in remembrance of former amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1) Sailor Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall Smith, in the hangar bay July 23.

Smith was among those injured in the shooting at the Armed Forces Recruiting Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Thursday. He passed away Saturday.

“This memorial service is a time for Sailors, friends and any local family to come and remember LS2 Smith,” said Lt. Jonathan Maruszewski, Wasp’s chaplain. “To talk about the impact he had on their lives, to remember him as a friend, as a shipmate, as a fellow color-guard member.”

While it is uncommon for a command to hold a memorial service for a Sailor that that doesn’t currently work there, Smith was a special case.

“This was where he got his start,” said Maruszewski. “He became a third class and second class [petty officer] here and he had a lot of people who knew him. A command where he spent three years of his life, a command where she [Smith’s wife] saw him go underway, and he came back and he probably talked about memories on board the ship and the friends he made. This is an opportunity for closure, this is an opportunity for folks to remember and appreciate him.”

It wasn’t long ago that Smith transferred from the Wasp. In fact, some of those who used to work alongside with him still work on Wasp.

“As a Sailor, as a worker he was one of the guys that made things happen,” said Logistics Specialist 1st Class Richard Avery, Smith’s leading petty officer (LPO) and mentor. ”Even during the shipyard days, when it was really tough, moving around all this material [he motions to the boxes and shelves that seem unending all filled with supplies], working late, I never heard him complain about his job.”

Smiths’ work ethic and positive attitude left a lasting impression on Avery.

“It affects me because I have to come to work every day at the same place where we hung out, where we worked and did everything together down here,” said Avery. “You know it’s a bond you can’t break. I can’t explain it but the effect is hard because I think I’m OK when I go home, I’m cool, I’m alright. Don’t think about it. And then if I hear anything, a certain type of music that can relate to our relationship, of him being around. I break down.”

Smith served on board Wasp from May 26, 2011, to July 25, 2014. He was on Wasp during the first landing of the Marine Corps F-35B Joint Strike Fighter variant in 2011, and the Bold Alligator exercise in 2012.

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Zhiwei Tan/Released)

Color guard presents

Marines & civilians pay tribute

Lt. Jonathan Maruszewski delivers an invocation prayer

Logistic Specialist 1st Class Richard Avery recounts memories of Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Randall S. Smith

A Sailor prepares to play taps

Capt. Kurt Kastner, commanding officer of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1), gives a speech