Frederick W. Smith, founder of FedEx and a decorated Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, has been named the 2024 Military Veteran of the Year by Military Times.
“I owe a debt of gratitude to the Marine Corps,” he once said.
He graduated from Yale in 1966 and then spent the next three years of his life as an officer in the Marine Corps. He deployed to Vietnam twice, once as an infantry officer and on his second tour, he served as a Forward Air Controller flying in an OV-10 Bronco. He honorably left the Corps in 1969 as a captain, having been awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts.
After leaving the military, he followed the entrepreneurial family tradition and founded Federal Express on June 18, 1971. He used his family’s inheritance and raised around what would be $690 million in today’s dollars in venture capital to start the firm. The company initially had 14 Falcon-20 jets to service 25 cities.
During the company’s foundational years, he had to keep it alive, doing so with outside-the-box thinking and even a bit of calculated risk-taking. Smith once famously used the last $5,000 that Federal Express had and gambled it in Las Vegas, playing blackjack and turning it into $27,000. The winnings covered the firm’s $24,000 fuel bill. The Corps had a critical influence on the culture and organization of his company, which included the USMC company-grade and NCO leadership tenets serving as key components of the FedEx Manager Guide and the FedEx Operating Manual.
He also ensured that his fellow veterans were taken care of.
“If you could fly, drive a truck, or lift a box, if you served in Vietnam, you had a job,” he once said.
“Our philosophy, People Service Profit (PSP), goes right back to that core tenet that the Marine Corps teaches its young officers and NCOs, and that’s take care of the troops,” Smith told Leatherneck Magazine. “If you take care of the troops, they’ll take care of, in our case, the customers or the mission, and you’ll achieve success. So, I cannot overemphasize how important the Marine Corps was in my business career, more important than my formal education, I might add. How to manage an organization and achieve goals and results really, mostly was from my Marine Corps experience and, of course, sports, was important to me too… my Marine Corps experience was the bedrock on which FedEx was formed.”
FedEx is a global business leader that has pushed business and logistical boundaries to become a worldwide trendsetter in shipping, particularly in overnight packages. Even with all his success, Smith remains grounded in his leadership and experiences from his time in the Marines during the Vietnam War.
His teamwork and people-leading skills were instrumental in the foundational structure and inspiration at FedEx. Many of the company’s time-honored traditions are rooted in his service. He is involved in numerous philanthropic activities, including serving as co-chair of the U.S. World War II Memorial project and the National Museum of the Marine Corps, among others. He serves on the boards of many high-level companies, including General Mills, EW Scripps, and AutoZone, and as chairman of the U.S.-China Business Council.
Notably, he donated $65 million to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation in 2022, marking the most significant private gift the organization has ever received.
Founded in 2001, the Military Times’ Service Member of the Year program “honors outstanding military members from each branch of service who have demonstrated exemplary military service going beyond the call of duty.”
“Frederick W. Smith is our distinguished ‘Veteran of the Year’ for 2024,” said Michael Reinstein, Chairman of Military Times Foundation, in a press release. “Smith’s remarkable legacy, from his courageous service in the Marine Corps to the groundbreaking founding of FedEx, is a testament to his unwavering dedication to service and leadership.”
“Decorated with the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and two Purple Hearts, Smith’s philanthropy, including a record-breaking $65 million donation to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, underscores his ongoing commitment to supporting veterans,” Reinstein continued. “This is a heartfelt recognition of Frederick W. Smith’s enduring impact on both the business and veteran communities.”
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