thedrifter
01-07-09, 08:58 AM
Gift ready for shipment when tragic news of Marine's death was delivered
BY STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 12:15 AM
The care package was stuffed with food, toiletries and magazines, ready to be shipped off to a Marine in Afghanistan.
It was addressed to Lance Cpl. Alberto Francesconi.
Susan Warren, 61, of Rockville, Md., was planning to send it to the Bronx Marine when she learned he had been killed in combat on New Year's Day - the first U.S. casualty of 2009.
"At first I was stunned, then my heart sank," she said Tuesday. "I'm speechless. I couldn't believe the timing."
Warren has been sending care packages to soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan for five years through her nonprofit organization, Grassroots Troop Support.
She had been sending packages to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment for many years and recently started addressing them to specific Marines in the unit.
A Marine chaplain suggested she send one to Francesconi.
"I send a shipment a week," she explained. "Last week I decided, OK, I'm going to wait a week. No big deal, because they are probably living off of all the stuff they got for Christmas."
Francesconi's package sits in her living room - a stark reminder of the heavy toll this war has taken.
"It sounds funny to be so grief-stricken over somebody I never met," she said.
"I am in shock, but I am proud and so deeply thankful for young men like Alberto."
sgaskell@nydailynews.com
Ellie
BY STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, January 7th 2009, 12:15 AM
The care package was stuffed with food, toiletries and magazines, ready to be shipped off to a Marine in Afghanistan.
It was addressed to Lance Cpl. Alberto Francesconi.
Susan Warren, 61, of Rockville, Md., was planning to send it to the Bronx Marine when she learned he had been killed in combat on New Year's Day - the first U.S. casualty of 2009.
"At first I was stunned, then my heart sank," she said Tuesday. "I'm speechless. I couldn't believe the timing."
Warren has been sending care packages to soldiers and Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan for five years through her nonprofit organization, Grassroots Troop Support.
She had been sending packages to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment for many years and recently started addressing them to specific Marines in the unit.
A Marine chaplain suggested she send one to Francesconi.
"I send a shipment a week," she explained. "Last week I decided, OK, I'm going to wait a week. No big deal, because they are probably living off of all the stuff they got for Christmas."
Francesconi's package sits in her living room - a stark reminder of the heavy toll this war has taken.
"It sounds funny to be so grief-stricken over somebody I never met," she said.
"I am in shock, but I am proud and so deeply thankful for young men like Alberto."
sgaskell@nydailynews.com
Ellie