thedrifter
08-25-05, 06:51 PM
NBC seeks to make wishes come true for grief-stricken city
BROOK PARK, Ohio -- This community stricken by the Iraq deaths of 14 Marines from a hometown battalion made its pitch for peace, safe homecoming for the troops and, in one case, closure with a brother's Vietnam war death.
NBC held an open casting call for military families Thursday for its upcoming "Three Wishes" reality show to be hosted by Amy Grant beginning Sept. 23.
About one dozen people with sometimes teary-eyed wishes waited patiently in a recreation center snack room as the casting call began in this blue-collar Cleveland suburb.
NBC said the premise of the show was this: "If you had one wish in the world and could ask for absolutely anything from the heart, what would it be?"
One unspoken answer in Brook Park came from the flags still flying at half-staff.
The Brook Park-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines lost 14 in early August. The hometown funerals lasted nearly two weeks, with nearly nonstop scenes of sobbing widows, flag-draped coffins and even a 1-year-old boy who dressed in a Marine uniform for his dad's funeral.
Terry Severo, 59, of Brook Park, tearfully said her wish was for a full accounting of how her brother, Theodore McElroy Jr., 19, of Cleveland, was killed Dec. 6, 1966, in Thua Thien, Vietnam. The military said he was an accidental victim of "friendly fire" from a fellow Marine, but she never heard a comrade's firsthand account.
"I just don't believe that story," said Severo, who visited her brother's grave in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brook Park when the rash of Marine deaths occurred three weeks ago.
"I just wish someone would comfort my Mom and put her mind at rest," Severo said.
Nicole Craig, 26, of nearby Berea, wife of Army Spc. 4 Andrew Craig, 25, who is serving in Iraq, was looking to the future for her wish _ her husband's safe return and a quiet home life for the couple and their son, 3-year-old son, Thomas, who snuggled in his mother's lap.
"This is the third state he's lived in," she said, listing earlier Army assignments in Virginia Beach, Va., and Fort Dix, N.J.
"This may sound funny, but I'm wishing for a normal life, owning a home, not moving every year," Craig said.
Safe return for the troops was a common theme as NBC sought military families willing to go on television. Families will be selected in several weeks.
Robin Reisner of Valley City, a Navy nurse in the 1970s, said she wished President Bush would stop sending troops to Iraq and said her overall wish was that military families each achieve their own dreams. "We've already lost enough personnel," she said.
Patricia Hartman of Brook Park, whose daughter, Marine Cpl. Samantha Hartman, 22, returned from Iraq six months ago, wished for money to build a memorial.
"We want to make sure the community does not forget those that have fallen and those that have served," she said.
Bryan Stinson, supervising casting producer for the show, said NBC was looking for touching stories involving military families and was particularly interested in highlighting service members returning home in September and October during the show's run.
"We're interested in reunion stories," Stinson said.
Stinson said it was up to the families of the dead Marines whether they wanted to get involved.
Lt. Col. Michael Brown, the battalion instructor and inspector, said the Marines wouldn't provide NBC with family contacts without their permission.
___
On the Net:
Three Wishes program: www.nbc.com/Three_Wishes
Brook Park: www.cityofbrookpark.com
Ellie
BROOK PARK, Ohio -- This community stricken by the Iraq deaths of 14 Marines from a hometown battalion made its pitch for peace, safe homecoming for the troops and, in one case, closure with a brother's Vietnam war death.
NBC held an open casting call for military families Thursday for its upcoming "Three Wishes" reality show to be hosted by Amy Grant beginning Sept. 23.
About one dozen people with sometimes teary-eyed wishes waited patiently in a recreation center snack room as the casting call began in this blue-collar Cleveland suburb.
NBC said the premise of the show was this: "If you had one wish in the world and could ask for absolutely anything from the heart, what would it be?"
One unspoken answer in Brook Park came from the flags still flying at half-staff.
The Brook Park-based 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines lost 14 in early August. The hometown funerals lasted nearly two weeks, with nearly nonstop scenes of sobbing widows, flag-draped coffins and even a 1-year-old boy who dressed in a Marine uniform for his dad's funeral.
Terry Severo, 59, of Brook Park, tearfully said her wish was for a full accounting of how her brother, Theodore McElroy Jr., 19, of Cleveland, was killed Dec. 6, 1966, in Thua Thien, Vietnam. The military said he was an accidental victim of "friendly fire" from a fellow Marine, but she never heard a comrade's firsthand account.
"I just don't believe that story," said Severo, who visited her brother's grave in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brook Park when the rash of Marine deaths occurred three weeks ago.
"I just wish someone would comfort my Mom and put her mind at rest," Severo said.
Nicole Craig, 26, of nearby Berea, wife of Army Spc. 4 Andrew Craig, 25, who is serving in Iraq, was looking to the future for her wish _ her husband's safe return and a quiet home life for the couple and their son, 3-year-old son, Thomas, who snuggled in his mother's lap.
"This is the third state he's lived in," she said, listing earlier Army assignments in Virginia Beach, Va., and Fort Dix, N.J.
"This may sound funny, but I'm wishing for a normal life, owning a home, not moving every year," Craig said.
Safe return for the troops was a common theme as NBC sought military families willing to go on television. Families will be selected in several weeks.
Robin Reisner of Valley City, a Navy nurse in the 1970s, said she wished President Bush would stop sending troops to Iraq and said her overall wish was that military families each achieve their own dreams. "We've already lost enough personnel," she said.
Patricia Hartman of Brook Park, whose daughter, Marine Cpl. Samantha Hartman, 22, returned from Iraq six months ago, wished for money to build a memorial.
"We want to make sure the community does not forget those that have fallen and those that have served," she said.
Bryan Stinson, supervising casting producer for the show, said NBC was looking for touching stories involving military families and was particularly interested in highlighting service members returning home in September and October during the show's run.
"We're interested in reunion stories," Stinson said.
Stinson said it was up to the families of the dead Marines whether they wanted to get involved.
Lt. Col. Michael Brown, the battalion instructor and inspector, said the Marines wouldn't provide NBC with family contacts without their permission.
___
On the Net:
Three Wishes program: www.nbc.com/Three_Wishes
Brook Park: www.cityofbrookpark.com
Ellie