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Cedar Grove Firefighters, observed Memorial Day by recognizing members of the department who have recently passed, and all those who sacrificed everything for our country.

On Memorial Day Cedar Grove firefighters paid tribute to one of our own by placing a wreath at his plaque along Cedar Grove Parkway. FF Lloyd R. Smith is the only Cedar Grove Fire Department member to have been killed in action in wartime military service. 

Lloyd grew up on Harper Terrace and was the oldest of four siblings. In civilian life he was a factory worker in Newark. FF Smith was a member of South End Fire Company No. 3. 

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942. All three Smith brothers served during World War II. Lloyd was assigned to the 301st Regiment, 94th Infantry Division and deployed to the European Theater of Operations in August 1944. Once overseas his unit was incorporated into General George Patton’s Third Army.

Later as the 94th fought to break through the Siegfried Line they faced along with the enemy freezing temps and blinding snowstorms. Corporal Lloyd Smith was killed in action on January 21, 1945 near Orscholz, Germany. His remains were never repatriated and he rests today in the American cemetary in Luxembourg.

Present day CGFD members are working to locate a photo of FF Smith.