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Pfc Lowell D. Smith was employed at Weston Biscuit Company.

He was married to Ada M. Budd in Indiana on 12 January 1939.

He enlisted in June 1944.

His unit was in regimental reserve during the Battle of Reipertswiller in France. On 21 January 1945, Smith was part of a Browning Automatic Rifle squad when his company attacked German forces surrounding several companies in an attempt to help them break out. F Company immediately drew enemy artillery and mortar fire followed by sniper and machinegun fire and was forced to withdraw. When the unit reassembled following the withdrawal, Smith was missing. In May that year, Army personnel reviewing captured German records discovered a German death report for Smith dated the day he went missing.

Beginning in 1946, the American Graves Registration Command (AGRC), the organization that searched for and recovered fallen American personnel in the European Theater, searched the area around Reipertswiller, finding 37 unidentified sets of American remains, but it was unable to identify any of them as Smith. He was declared non-recoverable on 19 July 1951.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) announced on 29 June 2022 that Pfc Lowell D. Smith was accounted for on 21 June 2022.

DPAA historians have been conducting on-going research into Soldiers missing from combat around Reipertswiller, and found that Unknown X-8062 St. Avold, buried at Lorraine American Cemetery, could be associated with Smith. X-8062 was disinterred in June 2021 and transferred to the DPAA Laboratory at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, for analysis.

To identify Smith’s remains, scientists from DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. Additionally, scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis.

Smith’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery. A rosette was placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for.

Pfc Smith was laid to rest at Fort Custer National Cemetery on 17 October 2022.