Maynard Harrison "Snuffy" Smith (May 19, 1911 – May 11, 1984) was a United States Army Air Forces staff sergeant and aerial gunner aboard a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber in World War II who received the Medal of Honor for his conduct during a bombing mission over France on May 1, 1943.

An apocryphal story states that after Smith failed to make child support payments to Gunsell, he appeared before a judge who gave him the choice of serving a jail term or enlisting in the military, and he later appeared for a photo in the local newspaper with fellow inductees leaving for service still in handcuffs and escorted by the sheriff.

[2][6] After completing aerial gunnery school, he was shipped overseas to Thurleigh, Bedfordshire, in south-central England, where he joined the 423rd Bombardment Squadron, 306th Bomb Group.

Staff Sergeant Smith was short in stature, and quickly gained a reputation as a stubborn and obnoxious airman who did not get along well with the other airmen stationed there.

[8] Staff Sergeant Smith's bomber was hit, rupturing a fuel tank and igniting a massive fire in the center of the fuselage.

The three crew members who bailed out were never seen again and were presumed lost at sea, but Smith's efforts undoubtedly saved the lives of the six others aboard his aircraft.

[6] Journalist Andy Rooney, at the time a reporter for Stars and Stripes, was at the base where Smith's plane landed and wrote a front-page story about it.

"[9] Smith was assigned to KP duty the week that he was awarded the Medal of Honor as punishment for arriving late to a briefing.

In his later years, he despised his time in the military and ran into legal troubles, but eventually retired quietly to Florida, dying of heart failure on May 11, 1984, in Saint Petersburg, at the age of 72.

[11][12] Smith met his third wife, Mary Rayner (1924-2015), in Bedford, England, while attending a dance put on for servicemen by the USO.

Smith was a gunner was subjected to intense enemy antiaircraft fire and determined fighter aircraft attacks while returning from a mission over enemy-occupied continental Europe on 1 May 1943.

Smith, then on his first combat mission, elected to fight the fire by himself, administered first aid to the wounded tail gunner, manned the waist guns, and fought the intense flames alternately.

This soldier's gallantry in action, undaunted bravery, and loyalty to his aircraft and fellow crewmembers, without regard for his own personal safety, is an inspiration to the U.S. Armed Forces.