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thedrifter
09-08-08, 07:11 AM
09/07/2008
Zappone brothers, both Marines, reunite for first time in two years
By: Patti Mengers , (pmengers@delcotimes.com)

There is little doubt that 5-month-old Savannah Zappone is the apple of her daddy's eye. A corporal in the Marine Corps, Anthony Zappone Jr. returned home from his deployment onboard ship in the Mediterranean Sea just six weeks before she was born.

"I play with her every chance I get," said the former Prospect Park resident who is now based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

He is equally devoted to his wife, Deborah, a Collingdale native he married in July 2007, just before he was deployed overseas with Combat Logistics Battalion 22 Marine Expedition Unit.

"Every second she gets, she hugs me. She knows we're going to get to the time when I'll have to leave," said the 23-year-old Marine who will resume training for another deployment on Sept. 17.

But there was one force powerful enough to move Zappone to temporarily uproot his little family from their Jacksonville, N.C., home. On Aug. 21, he brought his wife and daughter to Delaware County for a four-day visit with his 22-year-old brother, Dominic.

"I requested leave. I haven't seen my brother in two years and he's a Marine, too," said Tony.

Lance Cpl. Dom Zappone arrived back in Delaware County on Aug. 14 for a two-week visit after serving almost seven months installing and maintaining computers with the 9th Communication Battalion in Fallujah, Iraq.

"Everyone made it back in one piece," said Dom.

The brothers, who e-mailed one another about every other day while they were deployed, said they worried about each other's safety to a certain extent.

Tony visited seven ports, with Kuwait being the closest he came to the strife in Iraq. His unit most likely would have been sent to Afghanistan had Marine Expedition Unit 24 not been dispatched there just before his unit was deployed, said Tony.

"If he was in Iraq, maybe I would have (worried more). I thought he'd be all right taking tours to other countries," said Dom.

Some mortars landed just outside the gates of Dom's camp in Fallujah, but did not injure him or his fellow Marines. When they ventured outside the gates under cover of night, they were spared the insurgents' roadside bombs that have been responsible for most of the 4,150 American deaths in Iraq since 2003.

"I just kept my head up and kept going," said Dom, a network specialist who endured 130-degree temperatures in full uniform.

Tony said he always had a sense of where his younger brother was during their deployments.

"I thought, 'What if he has to go out and they need someone on a security team?' But, I thought positive. Then I was worried about my family, my mom and dad. What if something happened to him? I'd feel guilty because I helped him join," said Tony.

A construction worker, Tony decided to enlist in the Marines for four years on April 3, 2006.

"My brother came and saw me in boot camp when I graduated from Parris Island (S.C.)," said Tony.

Seven months later, Dom enlisted in the Marines for five years. He missed Tony's wedding because he was in military occupational specialist training in Twentynine Palms, Calif., at the time.

Their recent Delaware County reunion was the first time Dom saw Tony since he became a husband and a father and the first time he met Tony's daughter.
"She looks kind of more like him," noted Dom.

It was also an opportunity for the brothers to reunite with the rest of their family, including their father, Tony Sr., who lives in Oxford, Chester County, their mother, Regina, who was in town from Las Vegas, and their grandmother, Annabelle Cooney of Prospect Park. They also visited with their 28-year-old brother, Dustin, his wife, Stephanie, and their children, Vanessa, Chase and Evan, who live in Prospect Park.

"It was good to have mom and Dom and dad all together. We haven't had that in almost two and a half years," said Tony.

They also caught up with former Interboro High School classmate and Marine Sgt. Evan McDonough, of Collingdale, who served two tours of duty in Iraq where Dom encountered him several times. McDonough is now training Marine reservists in Philadelphia, noted Dom.

They even had a chance to convene with cousins and uncles to make their fantasy football draft picks.

Their mother, who recently moved to Nevada from Ridley Park, has been able to see Dom every other weekend since he is based at Camp Pendleton just north of San Diego, Calif. The Zappone brothers' recent visit to Delaware County enabled her to see both Marine sons at the same time.

"The whole family is very excited to just have the boys home safe," said their mother.

The brothers first caught up with one another the evening of Aug. 21 at the Oxford home of their father, who is a member of Operating Engineers Local 542.

It was an appropriate reunion site for the young men who, like their father, were football stars at Interboro High School and who both wore their father's old number, 88, in their senior years. Tony graduated in 2003. Dom was in the class of 2004.

"We've been catching up on old times, challenging each other," Tony said during his Delaware County visit. "Friday, we played a little catch and a little Madden 2009 on PlayStation 3."

The brothers have always had a friendly competition. Via e-mail, they even like to compare their performances on the rifle range and in physical fitness tests.

"We challenge each other whether we're playing football, having a catch, playing Madden or thumb wrestling," noted Tony.

"He always tries to beat me, but it never works out," said Dom with a laugh.
All the same they are close and, at times, even share clothes.

Noted Tony, "He's 6-foot-3, I'm 6-foot-1."

Tony returned to Camp Lejeune on Aug. 25 and the next day started football practice with the Marines Combat Logistics Regimental Unit for whom he expects to play in September and October.

"If we hit the championships in November, I might not be able to do it," said Tony, who will be traveling to Fort Pickett near Blackstone, Va., and along the East Coast for training.

He will be preparing for his next 6-month deployment that he expects to start April 2009.

"I most likely will be going to Afghanistan," said Tony. "Since Russia is hitting off in Georgia, I might be going there, too."

Dom, who returned to Camp Pendleton Aug. 28, said his next deployment could occur any time within the next 10 to 18 months. He expects to be in the Middle East with a possibility of also landing in Afghanistan.

Dom is relieved that he emerged from his first deployment intact.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," he noted.

While Tony is happy to have come through his first deployment alive and healthy for the sake of his family, he has mixed feelings about not seeing action while deployed.

"I like being in the field. When we do training, we shoot guns. That's why I joined up, to do things like that, to be a Marine," said Tony.

For now, Tony enjoys being with his young family, rising at 4 a.m. to give his daughter her bottle and going on shopping trips with his wife.

But he is hoping another two years won't go by before he is once again reunited with Dom who admits that he does look up to Tony "a little bit."
Added Tony, "To me, he's always my younger brother."

Ellie