4-Time Purple Heart Recipient Honored In Atlantic County

ATLANTIC COUNTY, NJ — On Veterans Day, officials took time to honor a local four-time Purple Heart recipient for the work he does within the veteran community.

Marco Polo Smigliani, an Italian immigrant and Marine Corps veteran, was honored this week during a Veterans Day ceremony sponsored by the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office, The Atlantic County Sheriff's Office and the Judiciary. It featured performances by the Sandpipers Pipes and Drums of Atlantic County and Trooper Michael Basti.

Smigliani, a four-time Purple Heart recipient and member of the National Purple Heart Hall of Honor, was honored for his work as a member of Disabled American Veterans, the VFW and the American Legion.

Born shortly after World War II, Smigliani and his parents moved to America from a bombed-out village in Italy. At 17, he joined the Merchant Marines, delivering Napalm and Munitions to U.S. Forces in Vietnam as a Navigator on the SS Columbia Eagle.

Smigliani enlisted in the United States Marine Corps and served with First Battalion, Ninth Marines, known as “The Walking Dead.” He and his unit found the largest cache of weapons during their tour in Vietnam preventing use by the Viet Cong. Smigliani was wounded multiple times and is the recipient of four purple hearts with an induction into the Purple Heart National Honor Roll Museum. He still carries shrapnel in his arm.

Now retired, Smigliani serves his fellow veterans by being involved with the Atlantic County Veterans Advisory Board, the South Jersey Veterans Consortium, the American Legion, the Disabled American Veterans, the Marine Corps League, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Viet Nam Veterans of America, the One-Nine 1/9 Network (a reunion group of his former battalion in Viet Nam), and the Military and Veterans Board of Stockton University.

“There’s a debt of gratitude that cannot be paid by the citizens who have not served, and I am one of them,” Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said.

Also recognized was Presiding Judge Bernard DeLury of the Atlantic/Cape May County Superior Court. DeLury served on active duty in the United States Navy as a judge advocate with assignments as a defense counsel, prosecutor and staff judge advocate. Recalled to active duty in 2004 and 2007 he was appointed as a tribunal president and member to determine the combatant status of Taliban and al Qaida detainees, including 14 High Value Detainees, held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“There’s no greater advocate for peace than those who are called upon to keep it, even at the cost of life and limb,” DeLury said.

DeLury was appointed an appellate military judge of the Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in Washington, D.C. in 2005. He retired from the military bench and the Navy in 2011 with the grade of Captain after 25 years of service. His honors and awards include the Legion of Merit, the Department of Defense Joint Meritorious Service Medal, Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal (4 gold stars), Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre and other personal and service awards and decorations. DeLury currently oversees Atlantic County’s Veterans Diversion Program which provides veterans facing criminal charges with the opportunity to be diverted from prosecution.

“Their service is the reason we live in freedom today,” said Chief Assistant Atlantic County Prosecutor John Flammer, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve. “Their continued service ensures we live in freedom tomorrow.”