CARL PADOVANO
AND FRIENDS
ON

Iwo Jima
Written by
Bob Meli
February, 2006

As I began researching about Carl Padovano's Marine service, it became clear that friendships he had with fellow Hackensack graduates, could not be left untold.

On Iwo Jima four friends from Hackensack, Carl Padovano,
Mike Kraykowski,
Cornelius "Neil" Fulton, and Joseph Peccoralo crossed paths. Three Marines were hit by enemy fire and all survived.
Cornelius "Neil" Fulton, Carl Padovano's closest friend in high school and for the rest of their lives, faked an emergency landing with his B29 Flying Fortress on Iwo Jima to see if Carl was alright.

For every question answered, there were ten more to ask, like the part about Kathryn, his wife, who was the unsung hero, who was pregnant when she received a letter saying Carl was killed in action.

The interview I had with the Family in 2006 and the 1965 article from the Record newspaper about there experience help us to get a glimpse into those trying times.

Under Carl Padovano's Hackensack High School 1939 yearbook picture reads:
“HE THAT CONQUERS MUST FIGHT.”
Carl Padovano, a man of few words to all who knew him, experienced these words in one of the epic battles in human history.