Support A Worthy Cause, Marines!

[thedrifter]

THE WOUNDED WARRIOR WHEELCHAIR FUND

http://fontman.smugmug.com/photos/109018377-M.jpg

If you desire to make a donation, please make monies payable to "JOHNSON DRUG CO. & HOME MEDICAL INC." and mail your check or money order to us at the below adddress:

THE SCHALLOWS
755 GRACE STREET
JACKSONVILLE NC 28546-5120

We will give the checks to Colonel Hardee or First Sergeant O'Donnell, both retired Marines and fellow members of Spanky's Rat-Pack.

We already have one wheelchair paid for, and more will be purchased with donations received from you great folks!

The chair will be on display with its custom graphics, courtesy of Gene Thompson, owner of the best sign shop in our town: http://www.signworks85.com/index.html.

Pix of the customized wheelchair will be appended to this topic tomorrow, or Friday.

We will give the checks to Colonel Hardee. We already have one wheelchair paid for, and more will be purchased with donations from you great folks!

Thank you!

Mark(fontman) and Ellie(thedrifter) Schallow

Would like to Thank Jerry Shaffer and leatherneck.com for their support.....

[thedrifter]

The actual wheelchair:

http://fontman.smugmug.com/photos/109156185-M.jpg

Ellie

[thedrifter]

PIX FROM THE DONATION CEREMONY TO THE WOUNDED WARRIOR BARRACKS

Our first chair was presented tonight at Spankys to the Wounded Marines.

There will be another chair in the next few days...

We want to Thank All the folks that are helping the needs of these Marines, with monies so far, but it is a small part since they gave their Blood and Flesh to fight for Our Freedom...

http://fontman.smugmug.com/gallery/2129810/1/110247802

Ellie and Mark

[thedrifter]

Pix from CMC visit to the Wounded Warrior Barracks at Camp Lejeune on Nov. 29, 2006

http://fontman.smugmug.com/gallery/2192921

We just received the second chair...It will be given to them next week....

Thanks for All Your Support....

Ellie and Mark

[thedrifter]

Mark and I just got back FROM THE WOUNDED WARRIOR BARRACKS...from the donations which we have received....

Thank You All for all what You have given these Young Warriors...

Ellie and Mark(fontman)

Here are the pix's

http://fontman.smugmug.com/gallery/2209559/1/115023854

[thedrifter]

New Yorkers show wounded warriors a great time
December 08,2006
Anne Clark

A New York businessman and area groups came together to give these wounded warriors a memorable weekend.

Daily News StaffPfc. Jamel Carter is from Havelock, and Cpl. Daniel Garcia is from Chicago, but on Nov. 26 they were both Buffalo Bills fans.

That could be because they were sitting in endzone seats at Ralph Wilson stadium, waiting to see the Bills take on the Jacksonville Jaguars.

It was part of a free weekend arranged by Camp Lejeune personnel and paid for by generous citizens in upstate New York.

Buffalo businessman Steve Kovacik got the idea after getting the NFL tickets through a truck purchase. He’s used to supporting our troops in a big way: for nearly four years, he’s been sending care packages to deployed service members, 10,000 pounds of goodies so far.

His reasons are deeply personal — his father was a decorated combat veteran, wounded while pulling an injured soldier to safety in Sicily in 1942.

When he’s assembling care packages for the troops, Kovacik slips in something extra nice every 2,000 pounds, like venison jerky or lottery tickets. This October, he had the football tickets. So he called friend Jacki Huneycutt, base public affairs assistant at Lejeune.

Soon Kovacik had the names of two Marines from the Wounded Warriors Barracks. And on Thanksgiving Day, he and family members greeted Garcia and Carter at the airport.

“They’re defending our freedom,” said Kovacik. “If they’re willing to die to safeguard my family, what is enough to say thank you?”

The young men had a Thanksgiving feast at Kovacik’s home, followed by an in-home screening of “Troy.” The Marines were guests at a Sabres - Canadians match on Nov. 24, and at a Canisius - Syracuse basketball game the following night, where they got a standing ovation from the crowd of 15,000.

They would be honored again at the football game, where they and other wounded troops were part of the pregame ceremonies.

“The stadium erupted when they told (the crowd) who we were and what we did,” said Carter, 22. He was shot through the foot in Ramadi in May, on deployment with 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment. In another month, he’ll have a bone from his hip transplanted to his foot.

At the Buffalo game, he and Garcia, in uniform, were met by people clapping and cheering for them.

“It’s an experience I won’t ever forget,” said Garcia, 22, who was injured in Hit, Iraq when his seven-ton truck rolled over. His calf was smashed and he has bulging disks in his back. The damage is permanent.

The Bills won the game, 27-24, with a late field goal. Afterward, Garcia and Carter were guests at American Legion Post 362, where they shared stories with Vietnam veterans.

“We have it pretty good compared to them,” said Carter, of the way the public has rallied around our troops today, as opposed to the Vietnam era. “They deserve all the credit.”

This weekend was indeed different — pizza places, a hotel, and local veterans helped make it possible. Kovacik’s company, Sam-Son Distribution, paid for the rental car.

Kovacik, son of a war hero, cares for today’s warriors, but it is he who thanks them.

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Craven County pitches in to help wounded warriors
December 13,2006
SUE BROOK
FREEDOM ENC

Retired Marine Capt. Jim Casti thinks it makes simple sense for those who traveled across the globe and were injured fighting for their country to be able to travel home for Christmas.

But holiday travel money isn't a military perk, and many of the 57 military personnel from Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune at the Wounded Warriors Barracks aboard Camp Lejeune base can't afford the trip.

A member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart himself, Casti, a Vietnam War veteran from Newport, is heading the national group's North Carolina effort to raise money to make sure that those injured in the service of their country get home for the holidays.

He said he spoke briefly at a Havelock Chamber of Commerce function recently and got a financial boost for the effort to collect enough money to get airline tickets and auto mileage money by Friday so travel plans can be firmed up.

One of those heard what Casti had to say and is taking it to heart is Craven County Commissioner Steve Tyson, a veteran whose son is in the military now.

"These (troops) have suffered greatly, some with debilitating injuries such as loss of limbs," Tyson said.

"When asked, 'What do you want for Christmas,' many of them replied that they wanted to spend Christmas with their families."

Casti said Tyson tossed in a generous check, then offered to do a fund-raiser at New Bern Country Club to further guarantee the men and women's Christmas wishes come true.

The $50 per person reception with heavy hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar is scheduled for 6 to 8 tonight.

Guests of honor at the event will be several of the wounded warriors.

Money is coming in quickly from far away and close to home, said Tyson, who started an e-mail campaign for the fund-raising reception.

He said the quick response from people has left him awed.

A $5,000 check from the New York City Police Benevolent Association is among the contributions Casti has received thus far.

Tyson said he received two checks for $1,000 each, several for $500, and a $1,000 pledge for help with the reception, leading him to estimate as much as $20,000 will be raised for the effort.

He said 20 more checks came in Friday, and 135 people have committed so far to attend tonight's event, which costs $50 per person.

Those interested in attending the fund-raiser can send checks made out to the Wounded Warriors Leave Fund to Tyson Construction, 820 Broad St., New Bern, NC 28560.

Those unable to attend can still help by sending checks to Tyson or to Casti at Wounded Warriors Leave Fund, P.O. Box 636, Newport, N.C. 28570.

Ellie mand Mark

[iamcloudlander]

I would be willing to donate to this worthy cause but could
not figure out where to send it.
I have a question: why aren't these Men and Women given a wheelchair by the government. They gave the utmost in defense of this country and deserve better from the government?
This reminds me of what the new CMC stated about the Marines killed in Iraq having to be buried in borrowed dress blues. His solution was to issue Blues in boot camp.
Wouldn't it be simpler (and cheaper) to issue the Blues to the Dead Marine to be buried in? What I get from this statement was that he expects a lot more Marines to be killed in combat and what I would think if I was a new Marine coming out of boot camp (although proud of the blues) was that the only reason I was issued them was to have a burial uniform.

If you send me an address I will send a donation to help them get what they need.

[thedrifter]

Email out

If you desire to make a donation, please make monies payable to "JOHNSON DRUG CO. & HOME MEDICAL INC." and mail your check or money order to us at the below adddress:

THE SCHALLOWS
755 GRACE STREET
JACKSONVILLE NC 28546-5120

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Fallen Marine lives on in gift to warriors
ANNE CLARK
The Jacksonville Daily News
Dec. 16, 2006

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers. For he today that sheds his blood with me, shall be my brother." - William Shakespeare, from "King Henry V"

Only days after returning from deployment, members of BLT 1/8 met at Spanky's Sports Bar and Grill. But the biggest presence in the room was the memory of Cpl. Gary Koehler, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Haditha on Nov. 1. He was 21 years old and left behind a wife, Hillary.

The members of Battalion Landing Team 1st Battalion, 8th Marines, came to Spanky's on Dec. 7 to witness the dedication of an electric wheelchair, donated in Koehler's memory to the Wounded Warriors barracks on Camp Lejeune. The wheelchair has Koehler's name and date of death embroidered on the back of the headrest.

"This means as long as a wounded warrior needs and uses this chair, then Cpl. Koehler will always be with us, and supporting his brothers," said J.C. Hardee, a retired Marine colonel.

He and retired Marines Mark Schallow and Spanky Feest have been behind several fund-raisers to benefit the Wounded Warriors program; other gifts include a poker table.

But this state-of-the-art wheelchair, dressed with camouflage rims, is a personal tribute, too.

Koehler's photo on a tribute Web site shows a handsome, freckled young man; an article in his hometown newspaper of Ypsilanti, Mich. recounts his high school athleticism (on the baseball and football teams) and his bravery in Fallujah, where he was awarded a Purple Heart for a bullet wound to the leg.

He was on reconnaissance patrol in Haditha, in tight urban terrain, when the roadside bomb took him in November. The blast also injured a Navy corpsman.

Though tough in combat, the Marine assaultman was long on compassion.

"Some of the guys had captured a lizard in Iraq, and wanted to put it on target and shoot it, but he said, 'Let's not do that; it's not hurting us,'" said 1st Lt. Mike Brown, who was Koehler's platoon commander during this most recent deployment with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

"He was always positive," Brown remembered. "He was a calm, professional Marine, and the kind of guy everybody likes."

Koehler was the point man for his team during their 21-day mission in Iraq; earlier in the deployment, BLT 1/8 had the distinction of returning to Lebanon, where they and the other elements of the 24th MEU evacuated about 15,000 civilians.

It was in his first deployment to Iraq in 2004 that Koehler served with Mike Briscoe. It was his father, Kevin Briscoe, who financed the wheelchair with veterans Doug Burnsworth and Bob Keppler.

"We can pray, we can send care packages, but I think someone needed to mention Gary's name," said the elder Briscoe, owner of Hoy Transfer in Pennsylvania. "My son was pretty shook up over it."

Marines and sailors from the Wounded Warriors barracks, which now houses more than 60 on Lejeune, were grateful for the gesture.

"This shows how much the American public cares," said Lt. Col. Tim Maxwell, OIC of the barracks. "We're America's team right now."

And that team takes care of their own.

"It's comforting to know how tight the Marine Corps is, that guys you served with a while ago don't forget you," Brown said.

[fontman]

http://fontman.smugmug.com/photos/117796664-L-3.jpg

[thedrifter]

CNN Warrior One Humvee

http://p089.ezboard.com/fthefontmanscommunityfrm22.showMessage?topicID=204 42.topic

[thedrifter]

Pittsburgh-area Marine vets pay tribute to wounded


PITTSBURGH Three Pittsburgh-area Marine veterans are in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, paying tribute to wounded Marines.
Bill Howrilla, Joe Wadlow and Jerry Vanasdale are taking 20 handmade walking sticks to the Wounded Warrior Barracks at the camp.Howrilla told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review he has already given a walking stick to the lieutenant colonel assigned to oversees the wounded barracks after recovering from a brain injury during fighting in Iraq.The men say the care packages they received while serving in the Marines boosted their morale, so they want to do the same for today's Marines.___Information from: Tribune-Review, www.triblive.com

Ellie