thedrifter
05-11-06, 01:55 PM
Updated: 5/11/06
Salem
Soldier dies in Iraq blast
Salem family remembers Marine as faithful protector
By Jim Devine
Staff Writer
A Salem Marine, whose family members remembered as a protector of friends and family, died early last week while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Robert Moscillo, 21, was killed when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device during combat operations near Fallujah in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.
Family members said they were told Moscillo was the only fatality among several marines who were severely burned in the blast.
Moscillo’s sister, Sandra Moscillo, 23, remembered when marine officers appeared at her family’s North Policy Street home on Tuesday, May 2, looking for his mother Donna Moscillo.
His mother was in California to attend the funeral of her stepfather, Bill Smith, at the time, so the Marines left, Sandra said.
She said she knew the visit probably had something to do with her brother but hoped otherwise until the Marines returned to give her news of her brother’s death.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Sandra said. “It was like I was in denial.”
The family was informed of Moscillo’s death almost exactly 30 years after the death of his uncle. Robert L. Moscillo, for whom he is named, died returning home from Navy service during the Vietnam War in 1976.
Moscillo’s family said he was a machine gunner in a unit charged with detecting land mines. He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Moscillo is survived by two younger brothers — David, 20, who is presently in boot camp to become a Marine, and Joseph, 17, who is a senior at Salem High School. Moscillo’s father, Frank Moscillo, lives in Beverly, Mass., with two children, Frankie and Jennifer, from another marriage.
Sandra said she and her brother looked out for their younger siblings growing up.
“Bobby was like a father figure,” she said. “He was a protector.”
Family members said Moscillo was not just the stern man seen in his Marine dress photo, but a likable, fun-loving character who served as a good role model to his younger relatives.
“He was extremely protective,” said Lori Jeffrey, Moscillo’s aunt. “Not only of his immediate family but his extended family and his friends. We’re certainly going to miss him.”
Moscillo was one of 17 grandchildren in the close-knit extended family. More than half of the grandchildren went to school together in Salem and grew up with a close connection to one another, Jeffrey said. Getting together with family gatherings was common.
“The cousins are really close,” she said. “That’s where the protectiveness comes in.”
Family members said Moscillo planned on becoming a pastor after the war and that he joined the Marines to help pay for college.
Although he didn’t always talk about his plans with faith, his sister said she heard of them through his friends.
“It kind of shocked me in a way, but it doesn’t surprise me,” his sister said about learning her brother was interested in becoming a pastor.
Family said his interest in his faith could be seen back to when he was a younger patron of vacation bible school, but it was nurtured with the guidance of the Rev. Dennis Scott of the Community Bible Fellowship Church of the Nazarene in Manchester. There was a time in high school when Moscillo lived with the pastor in Windham.
“As sad as the tragedy, is we’re very proud of him, and he died the way he would have wanted to have died,” Jeffrey said. “He served his country.”
Moscillo is the ninth serviceman from New Hampshire and the second Salem High graduate to be killed in the Iraq War. Last September, Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond, 28, of the Class of 1994 was killed during an insurgent attack on his unit’s camp.
Salem School District Superintendent Michael Delahanty remembered Moscillo as a friendly student during his sophomore and junior years, while Delahanty served as the high school’s principal. He said the school district hopes to memorialize the soldier in the near future.
“He was just a nice, nice young man,” Delahanty said. “He didn’t have a lot of material wealth, but you wouldn’t know it. He was just a good friend and good student. Just a very all-American kid — the kind of boy you’d picture in the dictionary next to ‘All-American Boy.’”
Ellie
Salem
Soldier dies in Iraq blast
Salem family remembers Marine as faithful protector
By Jim Devine
Staff Writer
A Salem Marine, whose family members remembered as a protector of friends and family, died early last week while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Robert Moscillo, 21, was killed when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device during combat operations near Fallujah in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.
Family members said they were told Moscillo was the only fatality among several marines who were severely burned in the blast.
Moscillo’s sister, Sandra Moscillo, 23, remembered when marine officers appeared at her family’s North Policy Street home on Tuesday, May 2, looking for his mother Donna Moscillo.
His mother was in California to attend the funeral of her stepfather, Bill Smith, at the time, so the Marines left, Sandra said.
She said she knew the visit probably had something to do with her brother but hoped otherwise until the Marines returned to give her news of her brother’s death.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Sandra said. “It was like I was in denial.”
The family was informed of Moscillo’s death almost exactly 30 years after the death of his uncle. Robert L. Moscillo, for whom he is named, died returning home from Navy service during the Vietnam War in 1976.
Moscillo’s family said he was a machine gunner in a unit charged with detecting land mines. He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Moscillo is survived by two younger brothers — David, 20, who is presently in boot camp to become a Marine, and Joseph, 17, who is a senior at Salem High School. Moscillo’s father, Frank Moscillo, lives in Beverly, Mass., with two children, Frankie and Jennifer, from another marriage.
Sandra said she and her brother looked out for their younger siblings growing up.
“Bobby was like a father figure,” she said. “He was a protector.”
Family members said Moscillo was not just the stern man seen in his Marine dress photo, but a likable, fun-loving character who served as a good role model to his younger relatives.
“He was extremely protective,” said Lori Jeffrey, Moscillo’s aunt. “Not only of his immediate family but his extended family and his friends. We’re certainly going to miss him.”
Moscillo was one of 17 grandchildren in the close-knit extended family. More than half of the grandchildren went to school together in Salem and grew up with a close connection to one another, Jeffrey said. Getting together with family gatherings was common.
“The cousins are really close,” she said. “That’s where the protectiveness comes in.”
Family members said Moscillo planned on becoming a pastor after the war and that he joined the Marines to help pay for college.
Although he didn’t always talk about his plans with faith, his sister said she heard of them through his friends.
“It kind of shocked me in a way, but it doesn’t surprise me,” his sister said about learning her brother was interested in becoming a pastor.
Family said his interest in his faith could be seen back to when he was a younger patron of vacation bible school, but it was nurtured with the guidance of the Rev. Dennis Scott of the Community Bible Fellowship Church of the Nazarene in Manchester. There was a time in high school when Moscillo lived with the pastor in Windham.
“As sad as the tragedy, is we’re very proud of him, and he died the way he would have wanted to have died,” Jeffrey said. “He served his country.”
Moscillo is the ninth serviceman from New Hampshire and the second Salem High graduate to be killed in the Iraq War. Last September, Sgt. Pierre A. Raymond, 28, of the Class of 1994 was killed during an insurgent attack on his unit’s camp.
Salem School District Superintendent Michael Delahanty remembered Moscillo as a friendly student during his sophomore and junior years, while Delahanty served as the high school’s principal. He said the school district hopes to memorialize the soldier in the near future.
“He was just a nice, nice young man,” Delahanty said. “He didn’t have a lot of material wealth, but you wouldn’t know it. He was just a good friend and good student. Just a very all-American kid — the kind of boy you’d picture in the dictionary next to ‘All-American Boy.’”
Ellie