Press Release
June 2, 2009

Honoring Our Veterans: Attorneys & Staff Celebrate Loved Ones

Sally Smith, Silicon Valley Litigation Secretary

Goodwin Procter employees have a long-standing tradition of honoring friends and family who have served in the military. In celebration of Memorial Day, we asked attorneys and staff, "Who will you honor this Memorial Day and why?"

Sally Smith, a Litigation Secretary in our Silicon Valley office, shared the following story:

"I will honor my father, Thomas W. Smith, who served as a U.S. Army pilot. He was stationed in the Solomon Islands and was charged with surveillance missions. His plane went down during inclement weather in the ocean off of Fiji and after being rescued by Fijian islanders, who treated him well and happened to have a HAM radio on hand, he was rescued by a passing Naval ship. Needless to say, he made it home after that harrowing experience and went on to raise a wonderful family in the Central Valley of California. My father was a loving man with a limitless sense of humor. He loved to tell the story of how his plane went down and how he thought he was going to be eaten for dinner by the Fijians but instead, the chief of the village asked my dad for his comb, which my dad had in his shirt pocket, and [he] immediately gave it over to the chief. Then, the chief gave my dad a big hug and showed him to the village where they were able to radio for help."

Is there someone in the military who you would like to celebrate? If so, please tell us your story.

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