thedrifter
05-21-06, 08:53 AM
MOURNING FOR A HERO
Long Island Marine who was killed in Iraq represented 'all the qualities we need today'
BY WIL CRUZ
Newsday Staff Writer
May 21, 2006
During his 24 years, Michael LiCalzi was many different things to many different people: dedicated son and brother, soldier and childhood friend.
Yesterday, hundreds of loved ones packed St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Licalzi's native Garden City to mourn the man they knew in those roles and many more.
LiCalzi and three other Marines drowned May 11 when their tank rolled off a bridge into a canal in Al Anbar province in Iraq.
In the front pew of the church yesterday, LiCalzi's immediate family - his father, Gregory, his mother, Carol, his sister, Elizabeth, and brothers, Gregory and Luke - sat next to his coffin, positioned at the center of the church. But through the funeral Mass, many in attendance assured them, with words, handshakes and comforting looks, that they weren't alone in their pain. "While grief and sorrow on this day is felt so deeply by you," the Rev. Joseph Schlafer, who presided over the Mass, told the LiCalzis, "we grieve with you."
"We come with tears, but we can proclaim in our belief that our brother Michael ... has been welcomed home to the Lord's house," Schlafer added. "We proclaim in this Mass that he is more alive than you or me."
LiCalzi, who was posthumously promoted to first lieutenant, was only six weeks into his tour in Iraq when he died. Cpl. Steve Vahaviolos, 21, of Airmont in Rockland County, and Lance Cpls. Jason Burnett, 20, of St. Cloud, Fla., and David GramesSanchez, 22, of Fort Wayne, Ind., also died in the drowning.
The Pentagon has not provided details about the apparent accident, though it has said hostile forces did not appear to be responsible for the deaths.
At St. Joseph, LiCalzi's siblings all participated in the Mass. Elizabeth, 26, of Syracuse, read a psalm from the Bible about young men dying earlier than their time. Their lives, though, should be measured by how they lived, she read. Luke, 13, who lives with his family now in Celebration, Fla., presented Schlafer with the bread used for communion. And finally, Gregory, of Boston, eulogized his twin.
After the emotional Mass, six soldiers carried LiCalzi's flag-draped coffin into a hearse. He was buried at Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn.
Mourners seemed to follow Elizabeth's lead and celebrated LiCalzi's life rather than become consumed with his tragic death.
"He represented all the qualities we need today," said Declan Meagher of Manhasset, a family friend. "He's a hero; what a model for all of us."
Tom Moynihan, 24, a childhood friend of LiCalzi's, said the 2000 Chaminade High School graduate took a different path than many of his other friends.
"I respected him for that. I'm proud of him," Moynihan of Garden City said. "He died representing everything he loved, everything he lived for."
Ellie
Long Island Marine who was killed in Iraq represented 'all the qualities we need today'
BY WIL CRUZ
Newsday Staff Writer
May 21, 2006
During his 24 years, Michael LiCalzi was many different things to many different people: dedicated son and brother, soldier and childhood friend.
Yesterday, hundreds of loved ones packed St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Licalzi's native Garden City to mourn the man they knew in those roles and many more.
LiCalzi and three other Marines drowned May 11 when their tank rolled off a bridge into a canal in Al Anbar province in Iraq.
In the front pew of the church yesterday, LiCalzi's immediate family - his father, Gregory, his mother, Carol, his sister, Elizabeth, and brothers, Gregory and Luke - sat next to his coffin, positioned at the center of the church. But through the funeral Mass, many in attendance assured them, with words, handshakes and comforting looks, that they weren't alone in their pain. "While grief and sorrow on this day is felt so deeply by you," the Rev. Joseph Schlafer, who presided over the Mass, told the LiCalzis, "we grieve with you."
"We come with tears, but we can proclaim in our belief that our brother Michael ... has been welcomed home to the Lord's house," Schlafer added. "We proclaim in this Mass that he is more alive than you or me."
LiCalzi, who was posthumously promoted to first lieutenant, was only six weeks into his tour in Iraq when he died. Cpl. Steve Vahaviolos, 21, of Airmont in Rockland County, and Lance Cpls. Jason Burnett, 20, of St. Cloud, Fla., and David GramesSanchez, 22, of Fort Wayne, Ind., also died in the drowning.
The Pentagon has not provided details about the apparent accident, though it has said hostile forces did not appear to be responsible for the deaths.
At St. Joseph, LiCalzi's siblings all participated in the Mass. Elizabeth, 26, of Syracuse, read a psalm from the Bible about young men dying earlier than their time. Their lives, though, should be measured by how they lived, she read. Luke, 13, who lives with his family now in Celebration, Fla., presented Schlafer with the bread used for communion. And finally, Gregory, of Boston, eulogized his twin.
After the emotional Mass, six soldiers carried LiCalzi's flag-draped coffin into a hearse. He was buried at Long Island National Cemetery in Pinelawn.
Mourners seemed to follow Elizabeth's lead and celebrated LiCalzi's life rather than become consumed with his tragic death.
"He represented all the qualities we need today," said Declan Meagher of Manhasset, a family friend. "He's a hero; what a model for all of us."
Tom Moynihan, 24, a childhood friend of LiCalzi's, said the 2000 Chaminade High School graduate took a different path than many of his other friends.
"I respected him for that. I'm proud of him," Moynihan of Garden City said. "He died representing everything he loved, everything he lived for."
Ellie