Donald Smith was born in 1947 in Akron, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the U.S. Army on November 3, 1966, and completed basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, in February 1967. Pvt Smith attended Advanced Individual Training as a Military Policeman at Fort Carson, Colorado, and then served with the 984th Military Police Company at Fort Carson from May 1967 to January 1968. He then deployed to Southeast Asia where he served as a Security Guard with the 194th Military Police Company in South Vietnam from February 1968 until he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War on May 13, 1968. After spending 234 days in captivity, PFC Smith was released by his captors on January 1, 1969. He was briefly hospitalized to recover from his injuries at Valley Forge General Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, and then received an honorable discharge from the Army on April 2, 1969.