Shelbyville Times, Shelbyville, Bedford Co., TN, Sept. 1945
(Courtesy of Dorothy Fisher Sadler)
[Return to James J. Claxton Family text]

CORPORAL WILLIAM DANIEL SMOTHERMAN

    Cpl. William Daniel Smotherman, 19, U.S. Army Corps, who has been stationed at Lanley Field, Va., and was here on a short visit, was killed instantly when the car in which he was drivin went off the Sugar Creek Bridge, three miles from Shelbyfille on the Lewisburg Pike.  The accident occurred shortly after midnight Friday when he with his wife (Pauline Pack) and her sister, Miss Josephine Pack, were returning from Lewisburg, where they had been attending the Tullahoma-Lewisburg football game.
    It was reported that Corporal Smotherman lost control of the car which caused it to swing to the wrong side of the road and plunge through the railing into the creek, making a fall of some 15 or 20 feet, landing upside down in the edge of the creek, pinning under all three occupants.
    The accident was found about 2:45 A.M. Saturday, by a man in route from Lewisburg to Oak Ridge, who went to the home of Jack Gray near the bridge, telling him about it.  Mr. Gray called Sheriff Jesse Cannon, who with Sgt. Paul Thompson, state highway patrolman, went immediately to the scene.  Sheriff Cannon got in touch with the Military Police at Camp Forrest who investigated and took charge.  Mr. Gray was quoted as saying he had heard a commotion at around two o'clock.
    It was necessary to take out the seats of the car and pry off the doors to remove Mrs. Smotherman and Miss Pack, who had received cuts and bruises and severe shock.  A two by four had been pierced through the chest of Corporal Smotherman, having come into the car through the top of the radiator.  Caleb Thompson's ambulance service was first on the scene of the accident and took the body of the soldier to the Thompson Funeral Home.  Mrs. Smotherman and Miss Pack were moved to the Bedford County Hospital for treatment.  Gowen's Funeral Home assisted with ambulance service.  The car was said to have been demolished.
    Corporal Smotherman, native of Tullahoma, was the son of Mrs. T. C. Smotherman of Tullahoma and the late T. C. Smotherman.  he married his wife, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. O. D. Pack, in April 1945.  he had been in service since June, 1944.  He received his education at Tullahoma High School.
    In addition to his wife and mother surviving are one sister, Emma Lou Smotherman, and one brother, Bobbie Smotherman, both of Tullahoma, and one half-sister, Mrs. Jack Suggs, of Fayetteville, and one half-brother, T. C. Smotherman, Jr., in the U. S. Air Corps.
    Funeral services were held Monday at 2:00 P.M. at the Presbyterian Church at Tullahoma of which he was a member, and were conducted by the pastor, assisted by the Rev. E. H. Stout of Monterey.  Burial was in Tullahoma Cemetery.
    Assisting the pastor, the Rev. C. E. Van Der Maaten, besides the Reverend Mr. Stout were the Rev. c. E. Jackson and Rev. J. M. Robinson of Tullahoma and the Rev. S. L. Nussbaum.  At the Maplewood Cemetery, the Tullahoma American Legion Post was in charge of the service.  The public schools in Tullahoma were closed for the funeral services.