I was once asked, given my Irish heritage, whether I was a “poet” or a “brawler”! “A poet” I replied, cautioning that even the most soft-spoken Hibernian could become a scrapper under circumstances endemic to the “race”. Yet, there are true Irish gentlemen and in July 1978, on my first day on the surgical unit at Saint Vincent, I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of just such a fellow. Rather, I almost walked into a tall, handsome, well-dressed, silver haired bear of a man who,...

Tom Miller, M.D. Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 I was 27 years old, but with two years of internship and residency under my belt, I already had a good deal of training in all the disciplines – such as surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, psychiatry, and subspecialties. I also had a year-plus of internal medicine residency training at State University of New York at Syracuse. I had been the admitting officer of the day and medical officer of the day at the Syracuse Veterans...

At 7 PM on Saturday April 6, 1946 the Army Day parade was held on State Street and in the jubilant aftermath of the war, all active duty and furloughed personnel were invited to march. Also taking part was the Commodore Perry chapter of the Military Order of the Purple Heart. Following the parade, a ceremony was held in Perry Square during which the Bronze Star was presented to Dr. Joseph M. Faso, recently discharged from the Army with the rank of Major. The award was given for 27 months of...