The Gary resident received the medal during a ceremony at Gary City Hall that was held especially to honor him with a replacement medal because the original was stolen from his home last August.
"I feel resolved and completed," said Smith, 93. "And I feel great because it is a community thing and not just for me and the medal."
Smith, a fixture in the area after a 50-year-career as an educator in the Gary Community School Corp., belonged to the Tuskegee Airmen, a unit of African-American fighter pilots who flew during World War II. He served from 1942 to 1946.
