On Memorial Day when many Americans have cookouts, head to the beach or go to a ballgame, Tom Smiley was marching in a parade in Washington D.C.
Smiley, 60, of Chicago Ridge, served in the Army and Army Reserve from 1980 to 1994 and saw duty overseas during Desert Storm.
That armed conflict and Desert Shield are often on his mind. So is the ultimate sacrifice made by so many Americans.
Asked what Memorial Day means to him, he paused: “Give me a minute. I’m choking up,” he said.
Regaining his composure, Smiley said Memorial Day is about “just honoring the sacrifice of all our brothers and sisters that came before us.”
“They put down their lives so this country can be what it is,” he said.
Smiley, who works as a groundskeeper at Richards High School in Oak Lawn, has spent several years raising money to help build a memorial in the nation’s capital to those who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
During Desert Storm, he served from January 1991 to June 1991 with the 403rd Combat Support Hospital in the motor pool, in charge fuel and water for a 200-bed hospital.
“We were in an area where we could have (been shot at) if the war would have been a different war. But it knocked out pretty quick,” Smiley said.
“The war was a quick war. A lot of people forgot about it. We saved Kuwait. We did something. We were part of something.”
He remains active with veterans organizations, including as the senior vice commander of VFW Post 450 in Alsip and as chaplain at Glenn Maker American Legion Post 1160 in Chicago Ridge.
Around the 25th anniversary of Desert Storm, he became more involved.
“I heard about it. They had a parade that year. I said ‘I’m going to do it.’ In Illinois, you don’t run into a lot of Desert Storm veterans. We marched every year up until COVID-19.
An effort to create what was initially called National Desert Storm War Memorial is now called Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial Honoring the Service and the Sacrifice, he said.
“I became a rep to raise money in Illinois, the south suburban area. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve raised a decent amount of money. All over the country, people are raising money,” he said.
So far, Smiley has raised about $20,000 for construction of the memorial, which has a $42 million price tag.
The site in Washington is near the Vietnam War Memorial, he said.
“The reason we wanted to be there, our leaders like General (Norman) Schwarzkopf and General (Colin) Powell, most of those guys fought in Vietnam. … I bet the majority of people who trained me were Vietnam veterans,” he said.
In the meantime, he’s still raising money for the memorial. Ground was broken in July 2022 and it is expected to be dedicated in 2024.
“It’s a very expensive thing to do, but it’s a vision,” he said. “You can go on the website and you can donate there. … I tell everybody I can.”
More information is at www.ndswm.org
Smiley has no regrets about spending his Memorial Day weekend far from home. Nor does he mind spending his own money to get to and from.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “It’s a great weekend.”
“If I wasn’t doing this, I’d be doing a ceremony at the VFW or American Legion,” he said. “I’ll do this until the Lord takes me away.”
Serving the nation runs in the Smiley family.
His son, Richards graduate James Smiley, served two tours of duty with the Marines in Iraq between 2006 and 2010.
Steve Metsch is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
