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thedrifter
02-16-07, 08:29 AM
Posted on Fri, Feb. 16, 2007

Funds to help injured Marine

By Pete Bosak
pbosak@centredaily.com

BELLEFONTE -- Centre County 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.

Marine Cpl. David Emery's legs and left arm were shattered on Feb. 7 in a suicide bomb attack in Anbar province. The 21-year-old also suffered a severe abdominal wound, has lost kidney function and was placed on a ventilator after the onset of pneumonia, his family said earlier this week.

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

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

The 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.

"If you've seen the program 'Band of Brothers,' that's what we are," Kaschalk said. "The Marines have always been faithful to all those who served in the Corps. Once you are a Marine, it's ingrained in you. It's who you are. We wanted to help (the Emerys) in any way we can, because this young Marine needs help.

"We feel it's our obligation to our fellow Marine," he said.

Emery's situation grew worse this week as his wife and mother arrived at his bedside. The Marine now has some bleeding on the brain, according to a communication Wednesday from the family to a friend in Bellefonte. The bomb blast burst his left eardrum, the family said.

"It will be a God-given miracle if he makes it through this," Kaschalk said.

The family said they still were holding out hope Emery's condition would stabilize enough so that he could be flown to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., this weekend.

Emery, a 2003 Bellefonte Area High School graduate, was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was wounded. He was scheduled to return home Jan. 1, but his tour was extended.

Martha Nastase, one of Emery's teachers at Bellefonte Area High School, has been collecting prepaid phone and gas cards along with money for the family. Nastase already has gotten many donated items to the Emery family and will continue doing so for anything donated at Bellefonte Area High School.

There has been a groundswell of support since the community learned what befell the former student, she said, from faculty, staff and former classmates.

"It's just a grass-roots response," Nastase said. "Everyone wants to help."

Pete Bosak can be reached at 235-3928.

Ellie