strongspan class="large"Dean of the Academic Board, U. S. Military Academy/span/strongbr/ br/span class="large"Brigadier General Frederick A. Smith Jr., was born in Trinity, Texas on December 8, 1921. After graduating from North Dallas High School, Dallas, Texas, in 1938 he enrolled in the University of Texas to study mechanical engineering until 1941. On July 1, 1941, he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point where he majored in military engineering and earned his Bachelor of Science degree. Upon graduation in June 1944, he was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"Alter completing the Basic Infantry Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, General Smith was assigned to the 5th U.S. Infantry in the European Theater as a rifle platoon leader in October 1944. As the war ended, he stayed with the 5th U.S. Infantry in Germany and Austria, serving as executive officer, acting company commander, regimental adjutant and company commander. From November 1946 - April 1947, he was a company commander with the 505th Military Police Battalion in Austria. In May 1947, General Smith returned to the United States to further his education./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"During 1947-49, General Smith attended Johns Hopkins University and was awarded a Master of Science degree in mechanical engineering. He then served from June 1949 - June 1952 as Instructor and Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, U.S. Military Academy. During this time, he attended the Infantry School Airborne Course. Afler leaving West Point in 1952, he attended the U.S. Air Force Air Ground School and the Infantry Officers' Advance Course./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"In August 1953, General Smith rejoined the 5th U.S. Infantry in Korea. During the Korean conflict he served as a battalion operations officer and executive officer and regimental supply officer for the 5th Regimental Combat Team. In August 1954, he returned to the United States to attend the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"After completing the regular course at the Command and General Staff College, he attended the college's special weapons course In June 1955, he became an instructor at the college and remained on the staff until August 1958./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"In 1958 General Smith attended the Armed Forces Staff College. Upon completion of the one year course, he became a staff officer in the Office of the Chief of Army Research and Development Rand D Atomic Division in Washington, D.C. Later in 1959, he became a special assistant to the R and D/spanbr/ span class="large"Chief and served in that position until August 1963. During this time, he completed a Master's of Business Administration at George Washington University and attended the Industrial College of the Armed Forces./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"In August 1963, General Smith returned to Germany for assignment to the Eighth U.S. Infantry Division, Mannheim, Germany. While with the Eighth U.S. Infantry, he served as Brigade Deputy Commander, 3rd Brigade until September 1963 and then as Commanding Officer, 2/87th Infantry (Mechanized) until December 1964. From December 1964 through October 1965, General Smith was assigned to the Seventh U.S. Army as the Chief of the Army Exercises and Counterinsurgency Plans Branch, G-3 Section, and Chief of the Operations Branch, G-3 Section, Stuttgart, Germany. After these assignments in Germany, the general was assigned again to the U.S. Military Academy./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"At West Point, General Smith became a Professor in the Department of Mechanics. While serving in this position, he attended the University of Illinois, earning a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics. In 1969 he became Head of the Department of Mechanics, while continuing his teaching position./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"During the summer months, he has attended National Science Foundation programs in Continuum Mechanics at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (1970); Non-linear Vibrations, Syracuse University (1971); and Coherent Optics and Holography, Oakland University (1973)./spanbr/ br/ span class="large"On August 16, 1974, he became the seventh Dean of the Academic Board at the U.S. Military Academy and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on August 16, 1974./span