Melvin T. Smith, STC (SS) USN-RET served in WWII, Korea and Viet Nam, aboard submarines for sixteen years where he checked the Sonar on the German U-boats prizes of WWII. The U-505 is in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. He also served five years in Navy’s historical HS-7 Anti-Submarine Squadron, earning his “Wings”. He is a member of USSVI Twin Lakes Base Submarine Veterans, Mountain Home, AR, Fleet Reserve, and American Legion Post.

Mary Nida Smith is a freelance writer, poet, photographer, and author. Her latest book, Heroes beneath the Waves: True Submarine Stories of the Twentieth Century, was released by Skyhorse Publishing in November 2015. Jeanie Loiacono is her agent at Loiacono Literary Agency. Her book can be pre-ordered at Walmart, Amazon, B&N, BAM and other bookstores. She is the Founder of Twin Lakes Writers and Creative Writers & Illustrators. Mary also served as a former board member of the Friends of the Library, Historian Ozark Regional Arts Council, Member of Area Art Club, Palette Art League and Bull Shoals Art Club, Free Verse Poetry Group, and five years photographer and historian at Midway Baptist Church.