{"id":28886773,"date":"2026-10-20T15:06:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/?p=28886773"},"modified":"2026-10-20T15:06:59","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T13:06:59","slug":"fred-smith-fedex-founder-marine-vietnam-blackjack-falcon-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/it\/fred-smith-fedex-founder-marine-vietnam-blackjack-falcon-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred Smith: The Marine Who Gambled FedEx Back Into the Air"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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It was the first night of Federal Express. The man behind it, Frederick W. Smith, had learned to lead not in business school but as a Marine officer in Vietnam. Within months his company was almost out of money, and he made a bet that has become one of the most famous stories in American business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #1a1a1a;padding:18px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600\">Quick Facts<\/p><ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:20px\"><li><strong>Born:<\/strong> 11 August 1944, Marks, Mississippi<\/li><li><strong>Marine service:<\/strong> 1966 to 1969, two tours in Vietnam; left as a captain<\/li><li><strong>Decorations:<\/strong> Silver Star, Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts<\/li><li><strong>Second tour:<\/strong> Forward air controller in the OV-10A Bronco<\/li><li><strong>Company founded:<\/strong> 1971, Little Rock, Arkansas; operations from Memphis from 1973<\/li><li><strong>First night:<\/strong> 17 April 1973: 14 aircraft, 186 packages, 25 cities<\/li><li><strong>First jet:<\/strong> Dassault Falcon 20 N8FE &ldquo;Wendy&rdquo;, now at the Smithsonian<\/li><li><strong>Died:<\/strong> 21 June 2025, Memphis, aged 80<\/li><li><strong>Buried:<\/strong> Arlington National Cemetery, 2 October 2025<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Kilo Company, May 1968<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith graduated from Yale in 1966 and joined the Marine Corps. In Vietnam he first led a platoon and then, because of a shortage of officers, commanded Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, as a first lieutenant. On 27 May 1968, in Quang Nam Province, his company was in heavy fighting. According to the account published by Arlington National Cemetery, he helped wounded Marines to safety, directed fire against an enemy advance and led an attack that drove the enemy from the field. He was awarded the Silver Star for &ldquo;courage, aggressive leadership and unfaltering devotion to duty at great personal risk&rdquo;. He was 23.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Back in the Air<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith had learned to fly as a young man, and on his second tour he returned to Vietnam as a forward air controller in the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/ov-10-bronco\/\">OV-10A Bronco<\/a>, the twin-boom observation aircraft the Marines used to find targets and direct air strikes for troops on the ground. According to his son, speaking at his funeral, he was shot down, evaded capture and was rescued. He left the Marine Corps in 1969 as a captain, having been wounded twice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/usmc-ov-10a-bronco-vmo-1-vietnam-1970.jpg\" alt=\"US Marine Corps OV-10A Bronco forward air control aircraft over Vietnam, 1970\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Marine Corps OV-10A Bronco over Vietnam in 1970, the type Smith flew as a forward air controller. Photo: USMC, public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He always said the Marines taught him more about running a company than Yale did. College, he explained, taught him how companies work; the Marine Corps taught him how people work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;If you take care of your troops, they&rsquo;re gonna take care of you, and they&rsquo;ll accomplish any mission&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Fred Smith<\/strong> &mdash; to Military Times, 2024<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Fourteen Falcons<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith founded Federal Express in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1971 and moved it to Memphis, which had a central location and an airport that rarely closed for weather. The idea was a hub-and-spoke overnight network: every package flew to Memphis, was sorted overnight and flew out again. For aircraft he chose the Dassault Falcon 20, a French business jet modified with a large cargo door, a strengthened floor and plugged windows. The first, N8FE, was named &ldquo;Wendy&rdquo; after his daughter, starting a FedEx tradition of naming aircraft after employees&rsquo; children. It carried the company&rsquo;s first air express package and is now displayed at the Smithsonian&rsquo;s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. By the end of 1974, at least 33 Falcons were flying for the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/fedex-falcon-20-n8fe-cargo-door-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"FedEx Falcon 20 N8FE on display\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">N8FE &ldquo;Wendy&rdquo;, the Falcon 20 that carried Federal Express&rsquo;s first package, with its enlarged cargo door. Photo: Eric Salard, CC BY-SA 2.0.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Las Vegas Bet<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first night was modest, and the early months were brutal. Rising fuel costs pushed the company deep into debt, and investors were reluctant to put in more. When General Dynamics, whose backing Smith had been pursuing, turned him down, the company was close to running out of cash. On the way home, Smith detoured to Las Vegas and took the company&rsquo;s last few thousand dollars to a blackjack table. He came back with a little over five times as much and wired it to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The win has become legend, but Smith himself was careful not to overstate it. He later said the money was not decisive, but that it was an omen that things would get better. What saved Federal Express was the new funding he raised soon afterwards. Revenue grew quickly, air cargo deregulation in 1977 let the company buy larger aircraft, starting with seven Boeing 727s, and in 1978 Federal Express listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Writing in Forbes in 2017, Smith concluded that sometimes it pays to be a little crazy early in your career.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Taking Care of the Troops<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smith ran FedEx for more than five decades and never lost his connection to the Marine Corps. He co-chaired the campaign for the National Museum of the Marine Corps and, with Senator Bob Dole, the national World War II Memorial project. In 2022 he made a major gift to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation to endow scholarships for the children of Navy service members studying science and engineering. Military Times named him its Veteran of the Year in 2024. He died in Memphis on 21 June 2025, aged 80, and on 2 October 2025 he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, with two Marine Corps V-22 Ospreys flying overhead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company he started with a handful of business jets has a long aviation history of its own, including the 1994 attack on one of its crews, which we tell in <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fedex-flight-705-hijacking-dc-10-1994\/\">FedEx Flight 705<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Popular Version Gets Right<\/h2>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The well-known version of the story is largely accurate: the first night with 14 jets and 186 packages, the General Dynamics refusal, the trip to Las Vegas, the Silver Star, the second tour flying forward air control, the scholarship gift and the burial at Arlington. A few details need care. The detailed dialogue often quoted from the Las Vegas episode comes from later retellings rather than from Smith&rsquo;s own public account; his own verdict was that the win mattered more as an omen than as money. His remark about taking care of the troops is usually paraphrased; the wording above is his, as published by Military Times. And his 2022 scholarship gift endowed awards for the children of Navy service members, not for Marines&rsquo; children in general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: Arlington National Cemetery, &ldquo;From Vietnam Jungles to Keeping the World on Time: Honoring Marine Corps Capt. Frederick W. Smith&rdquo; (October 2025); Military Times (9 April 2024 and 23 June 2025); FedEx corporate history; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dassault Falcon 20 object record (A19830302000); Fox Business, citing Forbes and Entrepreneur; Action News 5, Memphis (2 October 2025).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\n\n\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>Did Fred Smith really save FedEx by playing blackjack?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Fred Smith did fly to Las Vegas when Federal Express was nearly out of cash and won a little over five times the stake he took to the blackjack table, wiring the money back to the company. Smith himself said the win was not decisive but an omen; the new investment he raised soon afterwards is what saved the company.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was Fred Smith a Marine?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. Fred Smith served in the US Marine Corps from 1966 to 1969, with two tours in Vietnam. He commanded Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, flew as a forward air controller in the OV-10A Bronco on his second tour, and left as a captain.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why did Fred Smith receive the Silver Star?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Fred Smith received the Silver Star for actions on 27 May 1968 in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, where as a first lieutenant commanding a Marine rifle company he helped wounded Marines to safety, directed fire against an enemy advance and led an attack that drove the enemy back. He also received the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What aircraft did FedEx start with?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Federal Express began operations on 17 April 1973 with 14 Dassault Falcon 20 business jets converted to carry cargo, delivering 186 packages to 25 US cities. The first, N8FE &ldquo;Wendy&rdquo;, is displayed at the Smithsonian&rsquo;s Udvar-Hazy Center.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why is the first FedEx jet called Wendy?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The first Federal Express Falcon 20, N8FE, was named Wendy after Fred Smith&rsquo;s daughter. It began the FedEx tradition of naming aircraft after employees&rsquo; children.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>When did Fred Smith die?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Fred Smith died in Memphis on 21 June 2025 at the age of 80. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 2 October 2025, with a flyover by two Marine Corps V-22 Ospreys.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did Fred Smith really save FedEx by playing blackjack?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Fred Smith did fly to Las Vegas when Federal Express was nearly out of cash and won a little over five times the stake he took to the blackjack table, wiring the money back to the company. Smith himself said the win was not decisive but an omen; the new investment he raised soon afterwards is what saved the company.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was Fred Smith a Marine?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. Fred Smith served in the US Marine Corps from 1966 to 1969, with two tours in Vietnam. He commanded Kilo Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines, flew as a forward air controller in the OV-10A Bronco on his second tour, and left as a captain.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why did Fred Smith receive the Silver Star?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Fred Smith received the Silver Star for actions on 27 May 1968 in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam, where as a first lieutenant commanding a Marine rifle company he helped wounded Marines to safety, directed fire against an enemy advance and led an attack that drove the enemy back. He also received the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What aircraft did FedEx start with?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Federal Express began operations on 17 April 1973 with 14 Dassault Falcon 20 business jets converted to carry cargo, delivering 186 packages to 25 US cities. The first, N8FE \\\"Wendy\\\", is displayed at the Smithsonian\u2019s Udvar-Hazy Center.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why is the first FedEx jet called Wendy?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The first Federal Express Falcon 20, N8FE, was named Wendy after Fred Smith\u2019s daughter. It began the FedEx tradition of naming aircraft after employees\u2019 children.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"When did Fred Smith die?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Fred Smith died in Memphis on 21 June 2025 at the age of 80. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on 2 October 2025, with a flyover by two Marine Corps V-22 Ospreys.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\">\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/fedex-flight-705-hijacking-dc-10-1994\/\">The FedEx Crew Who Rolled a DC-10 to Survive<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before he built one of the world&rsquo;s biggest cargo airlines, Fred Smith led a Marine rifle company in Vietnam and flew forward air control in the OV-10. Then, with FedEx nearly out of cash, he flew to Las Vegas. Here is the story, and what he said about it himself.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":28886614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28886773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fred Smith: Marine, Pilot and the Blackjack Bet That Saved FedEx | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fred Smith led Marines in Vietnam, flew forward air control in an OV-10 and launched FedEx with 14 Falcon jets. 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