CPL David Emery

[tntmondy]

League rallies to help wounded Bellefonte Marine

Photo provided by family
Leslie Shivery Emery, left, and husband, U.S. Marine Cpl. David Emery at a military ball in Las Vegas in July 2006. Photo provided by family By Pete Bosak

pbosak@centredaily.com

BELLEFONTE -- Centre County's U.S. Marines are rallying to the aid of a fallen brother from Bellefonte who is fighting for his life in a military hospital in Germany after suffering severe wounds while in Iraq.

U.S. Marine Cpl. David Emery's legs and left arm were shattered on Feb. 7 by a suicide bomb attack in Anbar Province. The 21-year-old from Bellefonte also suffered a severe abdominal wound, has lost kidney function and is on a ventilator after the onset of pneumonia, according to recent reports from the family.

His wife, Leslie, who is seven months pregnant, and his mother, Connie, have been flown by the Marine Corps to be at Emery's bedside in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.

Meanwhile, local Marines have established a fund for the community to help Emery and his family.

The Marine Corps League's Nittany Leathernecks of Centre County have established a fund through Nittany Bank to help the Marine's family offset expenses they are sure to incur in the near future, said the group's commandant, Marty Kaschalk.

Checks or money orders can be made out to the "Nittany Leathernecks Detachment" and sent to Nittany Leathernecks, Attention: Cpl. Emery Fund, P.O. Box 956, Lemont Pa., 16851-0956. Donations also can be made at any Nittany Bank branch.

[tntmondy]

Marine locked in fight for life
Family at side of Bellefonte man at naval hospital
By Pete Bosak - pbosak@centredaily.com

Photo provided by family
Leslie Shivery Emery, left, and husband, U.S. Marine Cpl. David Emery at a military ball in Las Vegas in July 2006. Photo provided by family MARION TOWNSHIP -- A U.S. Marine from Bellefonte who was seriously wounded in Iraq is "still fighting" for life at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where his family and fellow Marines are keeping vigil, his father said.

Marine Cpl. David Emery Jr.'s, legs and left arm were shattered on Feb. 7 in a suicide bomb attack in Iraq's Anbar province. Emery, 21, nicknamed "D.J.," also suffered a severe abdominal wound, including a severed artery that caused his kidneys to shut down, his family said. He is on a ventilator and is also suffering from pneumonia.

"I still can't believe it's happening," said his father, David Emery, who made a one-day trip back to his Marion Township home before returning today to Bethesda. "I keep thinking it's a bad dream I'm going to wake up from. But I keep having it."

The younger Emery's wife, Leslie, who is seven months pregnant with the couple's first child, remains at her husband's bedside along with the Marine's mother, Connie.

"Right now he's maintaining his own blood pressure," David Emery. "They took him off the medication for that. So that's a positive sign. He's still on a ventilator, and they're still doing dialysis every day. And every day they are cleaning his wounds.

"They haven't even started working on his fractures yet," the elder Emery said. "We take it a day at a time. Every day he holds on, there's some improvement. It means he's not getting worse."

David Emery Jr. has not regained consciousness since he was wounded in the bombing. But his loved ones think the Marine is aware of his family, friends and a long line of Marines who have visited him, the father said.

"I took his hand and said, 'If you can hear me, squeeze my hand,' " David Emery said. "And he squeezed my hand. Boy was that a good feeling."

While optimistic, the family is fearful. At his home Monday, David Emery, who also served in the Marine Corps, visibly jumped when his telephone rang.

"Every time the phone rings, it's like uh...," he said. "Every time they take him to the operating room (to have his wounds cleaned) I worry. But he keeps coming out of it.

"He's a tough kid," David Emery said. "He just keeps on hanging in there."

While staying in Bethesda near his son -- the family is being housed by the Marine Corps -- David Emery attended a funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for the Marine he thinks saved his son's life.

David Emery said his son's sergeant major, Joseph J. Ellis, of Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, appeared to have realized that a man pushing into a crowd near Ellis and David Emery Jr. was an insurgent. Emery said he was told by Marine Corps officials that Ellis got between the suicide bomber and his son. Ellis was killed by the bomb.

"I think of him as a hero," David Emery said of Ellis, a 40-year-old Marine from Ashland, Ohio. "He saw him pushing his way through the crowd. He moved to get this guy and probably saved my son's life."

Ellis was buried in Arlington on Wednesday.

Emery said the family greatly appreciates the prayers and well-wishes that have flooded in since his son was wounded.

And family members are closely watching the Marine's wife, Leslie, who is expecting the couple's first child in two months.

"She's holding up pretty well considering she's seven months pregnant," David Emery said. "Everyone's watching her to make sure she eats and gets some sleep."

David Emery Jr., a 2003 Bellefonte Area High School graduate, was serving his second tour in Iraq when he was wounded. He was scheduled to return home Jan. 1, but his tour had been extended until Feb. 20.

Pete Bosak can be reached at 235-3928.

[tntmondy]

Bellefonte's 'D.J. Emery Day' features ballgame, birth
By Eric Smith - For the CDT
Related Content
Raiders lose on emotional day
BELLEFONTE -- Saturday was a day of blue and white in State College, but in Bellefonte, it was a day of red, white and blue in support of Cpl. David "D.J." Emery Jr. and his family -- including newborn Carlee.

Saturday was "D.J. Emery Day," as declared recently by Bellefonte Mayor Stanley Goldman, and it was marked by a baseball game in Emery's honor.

And the community support was on top of news that came earlier in the day.

"She had the baby," a volunteer said. "It's a girl."

Leslie Shivery had delivered Carlee, a healthy baby girl weighing 6 pounds, 2 ounces, at 11 a.m. Saturday, making her birthday on "D.J. Emery Day."

Emery, a Marine who lost both his legs and suffered severe wounds in a suicide bombing in Anbar province, Iraq, is still recovering at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.

Community members showed up at noon Saturday to support Emery as the Bellefonte Red Raiders took on Somerset.

The Red Raiders wanted to do what they could to honor Emery, who once played for the team, said head coach Denny Leathers.

"He is one of our own," Leathers said. "This is something I wanted to do for D.J. and his young family."

Leathers and the Bellefonte baseball boosters decided to host a fundraiser and tribute game for Emery's family in conjunction with community supporters.

Since he was injured in February, supporters have rallied around the Emerys.

Earlier this month, Emery's then-pregnant wife returned to Bellefonte from her husband's bedside to receive a new home in the Blarney Stone development, paid for by "An American Angel," a reality-television series about communities helping those in need. The Emerys are featured in the show's yet-to-be-aired pilot episode.

Local donations helped furnish the home and pay for landscaping, but the family still faces untold medical and travel costs. A committee of community supporters is still hard at work to help cover those costs, said committee member Erin Gardner, who said news of the Emerys' circumstances hits home for her.

"My husband is in the Army," Gardner said. "I think if something were to happen to him, I would want the community to support us."

Gardner said she and her husband both graduated from Bellefonte, and it feels good to help out a local family in need.

She and other supporters volunteered to staff booths at the game, selling baked goods, T-shirts, wristbands, raffle tickets for donated prizes from community businesses and chances to enter a home run derby after the game.

Other community organizations pitched in, and the Bald Eagle life skills class provided the baked goods.

For the home run derby, baseball players and alumni from Penns Valley and Bald Eagle Area signed up to slug it out with the Bellefonte players and alumni.

While many of the visitors came to see the ballgame and support the Emerys, others were drawn simply by the chance to help out a military family in need.

"I came out to purchase shirts to support him," said Susan Kramer, a Bellefonte resident who works for Haranin Construction.

Kramer admitted she wasn't a follower of baseball, and she heard about the event through e-mails.

"I'm a true believer in the troops and what they are doing," she said.

Helping out at the booths was Eric Emery, D.J.'s brother, who graduated from Bellefonte last year.

In a ceremony on the ballfield, Eric represented his family as he received a flag from the office of state Sen. Jake Corman, R-Benner Township, and a framed copy of Goldman's proclamation declaring April 21 as "D.J. Emery Day." Bellefonte Borough Councilwoman Vana Dainty presented the items to Eric Emery after the Penn State Air Force ROTC Honor Guard took the field during the singing of the national anthem.

"It's amazing," he said of Saturday's events. His brother "would have loved it. I would just like to thank everybody and anybody who came out to help D.J."

[sgt tony]

And we all should help support our young men and women because they are doing a GREAT JOB.

Semper Fi