Paulding sailor killed in Tenn. terrorist attack to get Purple Heart

U.S. Navy Petty Offi­cer 2nd Class Ran­dall Smith will be awarded the Pur­ple Heart pos­tu­mously. The Pauld­ing native died July 18 dur­ing the domes­tic ter­ror­ist attack on the Navy Oper­a­tions Sup­port Cen­ter in Chat­tanooga, Tenn.
Smith was 26 when he died. More than 1,000 peo­ple attended the local ser­vices for him in August.
The attack claimed the lives of four Marines as well. Sgt. Thomas Sul­li­van, Lance Cpl. Skip Wells, Staff Sgt. David Wyatt and Sgt. Car­son Holmquist were killed in the attack and will be awarded Pur­ple Hearts, accord­ing to a release from the U.S. Navy.
In addi­tion to the Pur­ple Heart, State Rep. Tony Burkley has intro­duced leg­is­la­tion to des­ig­nate part of U.S. 127 as the U.S. Navy Petty Offi­cer 2nd Class Ran­dall Smith Memo­r­ial Highway.
The bill asks for the sec­tion of U.S. 127 from Pauld­ing village’s cor­po­ra­tion lim­its north to the inter­sec­tion of Ohio 111 to be named in Smith’s honor and have mark­ers erected stat­ing that designation.
Smith is sur­vived by his wife, three young daugh­ters and his parents.