Smyk, Frank Barth
(Aug. 9, 1947 - Jan. 5, 1968)
Vietnam casualtyIf every person on the Vietnam Wall of Honor in Washington, D.C., had a writing bug like Mike Sadaj, their work would fill thousands of books. Whether there would be enough libraries to hold them is hard to fathom. Sadaj grew up with Frank Smyk, who was born in the New Grace Hospital, Detroit, the oldest son and second oldest of six children of Edward and Stella (Pulanecki) Smyk. Edward Smyk, a Detroit cop, dropped out of high school to serve his country in the Second World War. Frank Smyk and Mike Sadaj were altar boys at Our Lady Help of Christian Church in Detroit, close to Hamtramck, and went together to the same parochial school. Frank graduated from Pershing High School in 1966.
When he was 19 years old - tall, lanky, and red hair - he was drafted and sent to fight in the Vietnam War with little training. He was killed in action at Tay Ninh, South Vietnam. As is evident on the marker of his grave in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, he was a Specialist 4, Company B, 9th Infantry, 25th Division. In Washington, D.C., the name is inscribed on panel 33 E, line 054.
Nobody was prouder of his service than his parents. They used the $10,000 insurance the government paid for the death of their son to build a modern resort at Prudenville, a small village at the southeastern end of Houghton Lake, the largest inland lake in Michigan, 56 miles from Traverse City, and named it Frankie's Modern Resort. In the 1970s the family moved to Prudenville, where they joined Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church and the children went to school. Edward Smyk died there on May 4, 1982, and when Stella Smyk also died on Feb. 17, 2007, in Prudenville, where funeral services were held for her at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, The Houghton Lake Reporter did not refer to the memorial to her son.
From: Edward Pinkowski (2009)