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thedrifter
10-30-07, 05:56 AM
His gift: Mending wounded Marines
Fairfield resident will receive award
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
BY KRISTEN ALLOWAY
Star-Ledger Staff

For the last few years, retired Marine Gunnery Sgt. Mario Monaco has helped bring a touch of home to wounded troops at military hospitals in Maryland and Washington, D.C.

Blankets, toiletries, cosmetics for the female troops, even the occasional laptop computer -- Monaco finds ways to get the items do nated and ships them to the hospitals. He also recruits other Marines who travel to the hospitals about once a month to hand out the care packages and visit with the troops.

"It's a Marine thing," said Monaco, 40, a father of three from Fairfield. "You know what it feels like to leave your family, your wife. Now there's somebody who's going to help them out."

For his work with the Marines Helping Marines program, Monaco will receive the Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher Award for Distinguished Civilian Humanitarian Service at the Pentagon today. The honor is given annually to a person or organization demonstrating patriotism and concern for members of the armed forces or their families.

It is named for the Fishers, who founded the Fisher House program in 1990, dedicating more than $20 million to the construction of homes for families of hospitalized military personnel. There are 29 Fisher Houses at military bases and at Department of Veterans Af fairs medical centers around the country.

Brig. Gen. William Phillips, commander of Picatinny Arsenal in Rockaway Township, where Monaco's unit is based, nominated him for the award. Monaco retired two years ago from the Marine Reserves after serving 20 years.

Monaco, who runs a clothing manufacturing company in Passaic, got involved with the Marines Helping Marines program shortly after it was started four years ago by the Marine Corps League. Monaco now chairs the local program.

Monaco recently had the local branch renamed the LCPL Chris Cosgrove III Marines Helping Marines Program. Cosgrove, 23, of Cedar Knolls, who was a member of Monaco's unit, was killed a year ago in Iraq.

Before leaving for Iraq, Cos grove had visited the wounded through the program, and since his death, Cosgrove's mother and her husband have gotten involved, visiting wounded troops in Bethesda and serving on the program's board.

"My son got the opportunity to go to Bethesda probably a couple times. He came home very enthusi astic about the program," said Charlene Cosgrove-Bowie, who is attending the award ceremony for Monaco. "He enjoyed visiting the wounded so much. He felt he gave them something and they gave him something."

The program recruits Marines to visit wounded troops and bring them basic items -- blankets and toiletries and get-well cards. But through Monaco's contacts with fellow Marines, family, friends and his business, he said sometimes the program is able to do more -- such as getting an injured troop a laptop computer or helping a wounded Marine with his rent.

For information on the Marines Helping Marine program, go to www.mcleague.org.


Kristen Alloway may be reached at kalloway@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.

Ellie