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The Enterprise — Sean Mulkerrin
Thomas Joseph Smith Jr. eats breakfast Saturday with other veterans who regularly gather at Cindy Pollard’s Home Front Café in Altamont. He has recently had his memoirs printed by The Troy Book Makers, focusing on his experiences as a Marine in World War II. Smith at the age of 18 was a runner on Iwo Jima. He worked between the lines at night. “The job was to listen,” he said. He saw the first flag raised on Iwo Jima soon after the mountaintop was captured. Smith was wounded three times and has two Purple Hearts, he told The Enterprise earlier.