thedrifter
05-17-06, 07:49 AM
Celebration family mourns death of son
The lieutenant was 1 of 2 Marines with Osceola ties who died in the same accident in Iraq.
Mark Pino | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 17, 2006
KISSIMMEE -- Carol and Gregory LiCalzi knew the news was not good when their 13-year-old son called last week to say that two Marines were standing at the door of their home in Celebration.
Carol LiCalzi had gone to the airport to pick up her husband when her son Luke, an eighth-grader at Celebration School, made the call. The couple rushed home from Orlando International Airport, where Gregory LiCalzi had just returned from New York.
"I didn't want to get out of the car. It was like ripping out my stomach," Gregory LiCalzi said Tuesday.
They soon learned that their son, 2nd Lt. Michael LiCalzi, had been one of four Marines killed in a tank crash in Iraq. Another Osceola County family was devastated by the same accident. Lance Cpl. Jason Burnett of St. Cloud also was killed.
LiCalzi grew up on Long Island, but his parents moved to Celebration last summer.
"He very much liked Central Florida," Gregory LiCalzi said. "One of the reasons we picked it is that it's a nice area to visit. We figured when our children were married with kids, they would come and visit. There's Disney, Universal, the pool."
LiCalzi, a 2004 graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., visited his parents twice and loved the community. He attended Mass at the fledgling Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Celebration and ate at his favorite restaurants -- including Bahama Breeze.
Gregory LiCalzi has a family picture taken at Epcot during the Thanksgiving holiday as his computer wallpaper.
The family learned about the May 11 crash in Al Anbar province, Iraq, later that day. LiCalzi, 24, was a platoon leader in A Company.
Burnett, 20, and two others also were killed when the tank plunged off a bridge during a combat patrol, the Department of Defense said this week. A viewing for Burnett is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Grissom Funeral Home & Crematory in Kissimmee. The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Poinciana.
Both men had been in Iraq just a few weeks with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Gregory LiCalzi said the two men probably were aware of their Osceola connection. He said his wife met some of the men in their son's platoon but wasn't sure whether Burnett was one of them.
"I'm not sure I can do it right now, but I'd like to meet with [Burnett's] parents," Gregory LiCalzi said. "From east to west, everyone in the county is being touched."
In addition to his parents and younger brother, Michael LiCalzi is survived by a twin brother, Greg, and a 26-year-old sister, Elizabeth.
After the academy, he entered armor school at the U.S. Army Armor Center in Fort Knox, Ky., where he was the honor graduate of his training company, his father said.
"Everywhere he went and in everything he did, Michael gave 100 percent," Gregory LiCalzi said.
As an example, his father told of his son's heart during boxing matches against more experienced competitors at Annapolis. He reached the semifinals in his weight class.
He was a voracious reader, loved to surf, play poker, try new beers, handicap thoroughbreds, watch (but no longer participate in) boxing matches, and root for the New York Mets. He was an avid outdoorsman, his father said.
At Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y., where he was a member of the track, cross-country and crew teams, LiCalzi's name will be the 55th etched on the school's Gold Star Alumnus plaque, said the president, the Rev. James Williams. The plaque lists those who have died in combat since the school's founding in 1930.
"He was very involved here at Chaminade. Very determined," Williams said. "He kept in touch with us. We heard from him as recently as a month ago."
LiCalzi was an altar boy at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Garden City and worked in the rectory.
He had bought a house in Jacksonville, N.C., because he didn't want to "squander money," his father said.
The funeral will be later this week in Garden City, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, LiCalzi's family suggests donations to Chaminade High School or the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.
"It's not only young kids out of high school dying," LiCalzi said. "All these officers go to the academy or are in ROTC. They have to make hard decisions about serving their country."
Information from Newsday, a Tribune Publishing newspaper, was used in this report. Mark Pino can be reached at mpino@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5935.
Ellie
The lieutenant was 1 of 2 Marines with Osceola ties who died in the same accident in Iraq.
Mark Pino | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 17, 2006
KISSIMMEE -- Carol and Gregory LiCalzi knew the news was not good when their 13-year-old son called last week to say that two Marines were standing at the door of their home in Celebration.
Carol LiCalzi had gone to the airport to pick up her husband when her son Luke, an eighth-grader at Celebration School, made the call. The couple rushed home from Orlando International Airport, where Gregory LiCalzi had just returned from New York.
"I didn't want to get out of the car. It was like ripping out my stomach," Gregory LiCalzi said Tuesday.
They soon learned that their son, 2nd Lt. Michael LiCalzi, had been one of four Marines killed in a tank crash in Iraq. Another Osceola County family was devastated by the same accident. Lance Cpl. Jason Burnett of St. Cloud also was killed.
LiCalzi grew up on Long Island, but his parents moved to Celebration last summer.
"He very much liked Central Florida," Gregory LiCalzi said. "One of the reasons we picked it is that it's a nice area to visit. We figured when our children were married with kids, they would come and visit. There's Disney, Universal, the pool."
LiCalzi, a 2004 graduate of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., visited his parents twice and loved the community. He attended Mass at the fledgling Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Celebration and ate at his favorite restaurants -- including Bahama Breeze.
Gregory LiCalzi has a family picture taken at Epcot during the Thanksgiving holiday as his computer wallpaper.
The family learned about the May 11 crash in Al Anbar province, Iraq, later that day. LiCalzi, 24, was a platoon leader in A Company.
Burnett, 20, and two others also were killed when the tank plunged off a bridge during a combat patrol, the Department of Defense said this week. A viewing for Burnett is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at Grissom Funeral Home & Crematory in Kissimmee. The funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m. Friday at First Baptist Church of Poinciana.
Both men had been in Iraq just a few weeks with the 2nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Gregory LiCalzi said the two men probably were aware of their Osceola connection. He said his wife met some of the men in their son's platoon but wasn't sure whether Burnett was one of them.
"I'm not sure I can do it right now, but I'd like to meet with [Burnett's] parents," Gregory LiCalzi said. "From east to west, everyone in the county is being touched."
In addition to his parents and younger brother, Michael LiCalzi is survived by a twin brother, Greg, and a 26-year-old sister, Elizabeth.
After the academy, he entered armor school at the U.S. Army Armor Center in Fort Knox, Ky., where he was the honor graduate of his training company, his father said.
"Everywhere he went and in everything he did, Michael gave 100 percent," Gregory LiCalzi said.
As an example, his father told of his son's heart during boxing matches against more experienced competitors at Annapolis. He reached the semifinals in his weight class.
He was a voracious reader, loved to surf, play poker, try new beers, handicap thoroughbreds, watch (but no longer participate in) boxing matches, and root for the New York Mets. He was an avid outdoorsman, his father said.
At Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y., where he was a member of the track, cross-country and crew teams, LiCalzi's name will be the 55th etched on the school's Gold Star Alumnus plaque, said the president, the Rev. James Williams. The plaque lists those who have died in combat since the school's founding in 1930.
"He was very involved here at Chaminade. Very determined," Williams said. "He kept in touch with us. We heard from him as recently as a month ago."
LiCalzi was an altar boy at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Garden City and worked in the rectory.
He had bought a house in Jacksonville, N.C., because he didn't want to "squander money," his father said.
The funeral will be later this week in Garden City, N.Y.
In lieu of flowers, LiCalzi's family suggests donations to Chaminade High School or the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.
"It's not only young kids out of high school dying," LiCalzi said. "All these officers go to the academy or are in ROTC. They have to make hard decisions about serving their country."
Information from Newsday, a Tribune Publishing newspaper, was used in this report. Mark Pino can be reached at mpino@orlandosentinel.com or 407-931-5935.
Ellie