Dr. Tom Smith and Sal Famularo

Dr. Tom Smith and Sal Famularo served in the United States Marine Corps with honor and valor during World War II in the battle of Iwo Jima. 

Dr. Tom Smith saw combat in Saipan, Tinian, Marshall Islands and Iwo Jima with the 4th Marine Division from 1943-1945. He was wounded four times, and received a Purple Heart. Dr. Smith fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima for 26 days, which is stunning considering the crushing number of Marine fatalities during that battle. He was a part of a short-lived, specially trained elite Marine unit called the Raiders, which operated behind enemy lines. Dr. Smith was present on Iwo Jima for both flag raisings of the American Flag on the island; the photograph of that event became an iconic image from World War II. 

Dr. Smith saw some of the most grueling combat of the War in the Pacific, as his company started with 229 men and ended up with 29 men by the time they came home. After the War, Dr. Smith married and went to college, eventually earning his doctoral degree and serving 42 years as an educator. 

Mr. Famularo also served in the 4th Marine Division from 1943 to 1946 and fought in Iwo Jima, Saipan and Tinian. While fighting on Iwo Jima, Mr. Famularo, a rifleman, was wounded by a machine gun’s spray after fighting to hold an airstrip where an American B-29 bomber made an emergency landing. He nearly lost his life, if not for the heroic actions of a tank commander who told him to lie down on the ground so the tank could drive over the Marine and pull him through a hatch at the bottom of the tank. He received a Purple Heart for the bravery he displayed that day. 

After the War, Mr. Famularo married, had two sons and worked as a bartender at several restaurants and taverns in Schenectady County. 

Both Dr. Tom Smith and Sal Famularo were discharged with the rank of Corporal and both men live in the town of Glenville, where they are friends to this very day.