John Smith wanted his good deed to be as anonymous as his name, but it hasn’t worked out that way.
Smith, president of Smith Engineering Consultants in McHenry, was in the Baltimore airport recently when he noticed that some soldiers returning home from Iraq would be on his flight. So he used 75,000 of his own frequent-flier miles to bump them up to first class so they could rest in comfort.
The soldiers thanked him profusely; United Airlines sent him a gushing letter of thanks. But then his assistant spotted the letter on his desk and e-mailed it to the whole company. The secret was out. Smith still is reluctant to talk.
“This has gotten out of hand,” he said. “It’s not about me; it’s about the soldiers. That’s the real story, what they’ve done.”
As his story has spread, so have demands for Smith to comment on his actions. He has been surprised by the outpouring of positive reaction and hopes it motivates others to perform similar gestures.
“The one thing I could say is that this is what American businessmen do every day of their lives,” he said. “It’s not anything special; it goes unseen. People always complain about corporate America, but the same thing happened with the hurricane. I have friends who have done the same types of things.”