Cmdr. Merle Smith, trailblazing cadet and officer, dies at 76

When former President Barack Obama gave the commencement address at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 2015, he singled out one alumnus who had graduated 50 years earlier: Merle Smith Jr. When Smith graduated in 1966, he was the first Black cadet to graduate from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and later became the first Black officer to command an American warship in close-quarters combat. He died last month at age 76. Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist remembers a life well lived.July 4, 2021