John Smith; Helped Preserve Lane Victory

John Smith, 87, one of the two former merchant mariners credited with bringing the last American-flagged World War II Victory ship to Los Angeles Harbor as a permanent memorial to the crews who carried crucial wartime cargo across the seas. Smith, a chief mate, and Joe Vernick, another retiree, went to Washington in 1987 and convinced Congress to declare the cargo ship Lane Victory a national historic landmark. The Lane was the last of the more than 500 Victory ships built in World War II and is now at a permanent berth in San Pedro, where it has become a popular tourist attraction. Smith also was the chief engineer who brought the Queen Mary from England to Long Beach. In Seal Beach on April 14.