NORWICH – A worn but proud military hat was hung up for the last time this month, covered in the dust of three combat tours fought between two different wars in over two decades of service.

Wounded twice in action during his 23 years of military service, Sergeant Major Joseph Angelino retired from the United States Marine Corps as a reservist, on the first of August.

A veteran of the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War, Angelino, who also serves as the City of Norwich Police Chief, served a total of three combat tours as a reservist – one in Desert Storm and the other two in Iraq.

“I’d do it all over again. I miss the Marines already. They’re young and energetic and kept me young. I enjoyed being around so many like minded people ... people with a sense of purpose, physically fit and mission oriented,” Angelino said.

He was wounded in action Sept. 5, 2005 while en route to assist a Marine patrol caught in an ambush in Khalidiyah, Iraq, by an Improvised Explosive Device. He was injured a second time just 25 days later by enemy mortar fire at Camp Habbaniyah, also in Iraq.

“I volunteered. I got paid for everything I did,” said Angelino, who denies any portrayal of him as a hero.

“As a reservist, the only time I got called away is when times were really bad,” he said.

After his last injury, Angelino was treated in Germany and then flown back to the United States for rehabilitation.

According to Angelino, the greatest sacrifices made during his years of service were by his wife, Kendall Saber, and family. “My wife and family went through some pretty tough times,” he explained.

Angelino has been a police officer since 198 and the Norwich City Police Chief since 1996.

The Norwich native said his original inspiration to join the military came from former Chenango County Sheriff Joseph Benenati, who fought on Iwo Jima during World War II, and former Undersheriff Vincent Marsenelli. Both served in the Marines Corps.