Smith, Jeremy Daniel
Male
Verified Staff Sergeant Jeremy Daniel Smith, 26, of Arlington, Texas, was a U.S. Marine reservist serving with 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines. He was killed in action in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on April 6, 2011.
Their Story
Staff Sergeant Jeremy Daniel Smith was a 26-year-old Marine Corps reservist from Arlington, Texas. He was assigned to Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 23rd Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, based in Houston. His unit was deployed to Afghanistan as part of Regimental Combat Team 8, II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward), operating in Helmand province during Operation Enduring Freedom.
On April 6, 2011, SSgt Smith was killed in Helmand province. The U.S. Department of Defense announced his death as a result of hostile action. Specific details of the incident were not publicly released in initial reports, which was common for operations in the volatile southern region at the time.
His death occurred during a period of intense fighting in Helmand, a Taliban stronghold and center of opium production. The U.S. Marine Corps, alongside allied forces, conducted sustained counterinsurgency operations there throughout 2011, seeking to secure population centers and disrupt insurgent networks.
SSgt Smith was one of 1,457 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, the war's deadliest two-year period. His death contributed to the year's total of 418 American fatalities in the conflict. He is memorialized on the Afghanistan War casualty rolls maintained by the U.S. government and private veterans' organizations.
As a reservist, Smith represented the significant contribution of the Marine Forces Reserve to the war effort. His battalion, the 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, had multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks.
The conflict in which he served, Operation Enduring Freedom, formally concluded in December 2014, transitioning to the follow-on Operation Freedom's Sentinel. The war left a documented toll of 2,402 U.S. military fatalities during the Operation Enduring Freedom phase from 2001 to 2014.
Explore Further
Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led combat mission in Afghanistan, concluded in December 2014 after 13 years of conflict. See the full roster of those killed in this conflict.
Among those documented in the same conflict: Andrews, Evander Earl, Edmunds, Jonn Joseph, Stonesifer, Kristofor Tif, Davis, Bryant Leroy.
