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thedrifter
01-30-09, 03:48 PM
Teachers reminisce about fallen Marine

Friday, January 30, 2009


David Wallace III was remembered as quiet, friendly and a hard worker.

STAFF REPORT

SHARPSVILLE, Pa. — Before David W. Wallace III was a Marine Corps sergeant, he was a skinny kid with a hefty determination to succeed at football.

He worked hard, remembered his teachers and football coaches, building himself up in the weight room and landing positions as offensive and defensive lineman.

He was courageous and a team player, said Kirk Scurpa, Sharpsville High School principal who taught Wallace health and physical education in middle school.

“He didn’t get much playing time,” said head football coach Paul Piccirilli. “But he worked his butt off in the weight room, and when it came time to play, he was relentless.”

Wallace worked hard and gave 100 percent, said John Napotnik, who was his defensive line coach and taught him psychology in his senior year.

Off the field, Wallace impressed people with his quiet friendliness.

“I really liked the kid. He was a great kid,” Napotnick said.

“When we got the news Tuesday, it hurt,” Piccirilli added.

Wallace, 25, a 2002 graduate of Sharpsville High, was killed Tuesday in an explosion while he was sweeping a road for mines in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

He was assigned to the 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. In North Carolina, he leaves his wife, Erica, of Jacksonville, N.C., a 5-year-old stepson and a 2-year-old daughter.

His mother, Carol Wallace, lives in Sharpsville. His father is the late David Wallace. His younger brother, Steven, is stationed with the Navy in Guam. Through a family spokesman Thursday, Mrs. Wallace declined to be interviewed.

Wallace was a Marine combat engineer. He enlisted in the Marines in September 2002 and was deployed twice to Iraq. In November 2008, he was sent to Afghanistan.

His family last saw him in September 2008, said John McCay, a family friend.

Wallace’s awards include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Combat Action Ribbon, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Global War on terrorism Expeditionary Medal.

He was a Marine through-and-through, said McCay.

“I saw Dave a year or two after he graduated, in his military uniform,” Napotnik said. “He was very proud to serve his country.”

Many people are feeling the loss of Wallace in the small community.

He had many friends, said Piccirilli and Napotnik.

He belonged to a tight group of friends who were always joking and pulling pranks, said Piccirilli. “He made coaching fun.”

“This is not something that you think can happen in your area,” Scurpa said.

“It’s a real tragedy for our whole community,” Napotnik said.

Funeral arrangements were not set as of Thursday. They are pending through the Donaldson-Mohney Funeral Home in Sharpsville.

Ellie