Cadets Welcome Home Fallen Marine - 2nd in 3 Weeks
ROME, NY -- It was an emotional three weeks for 1st Lt. Michelle Crippen and her Rome City School District Cadet Squadron, as well as for the members of Utica Cadet Squadron. They helped welcome home the body of fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Geary on March 26. Then on April 14, they returned to Griffiss International Airport to welcome home the body of Marine Lance Cpl. Blaise Oleski, who, like Geary, was killed in action in Afghanistan. Both were 22.
Because Geary's brother, Dillan, is one of her cadets, Lieutenant Crippen found herself practically camped out at the Geary home in Rome, helping to coordinate the welcome-home military honors and the funeral. She also fielded numerous news media calls on behalf of the family.
Another call she took was from Lance Cpl. Oleski, who knew Geary and who had grown up only ten miles away in the Town of Floyd.
"He called from Afghanistan," she said. "He was pretty much in the middle of combat, and had very little time on the phone. I could hear gunfire in the background. He wasn't concerned about himself. He wanted to know how the Geary family was doing. I found out later that he had asked his mother to attend the funeral."
Then, on April 8, Oleski was killed.
It wasn't long before Rome Mayor James Brown called Crippen on her cell phone, asking if she would work with the family and help coordinate the arrangements again.
That meant that a contingent of Marines would escort the body from the chartered plane to the hearse, followed by a procession through lines of military personnel, 45 CAP cadets, veterans, police, firefighters and the public. Then calling hours at the same funeral home and services at the same church where Lance Cpl. Geary was mourned. And finally a committal service and military honors at Ft. Stanwix National Monument, adjacent to the church in the heart of downtown Rome -- with Marines and Revolutionary War re-enactors lining the fort's parapet.
Some 20 of her cadets took turns working traffic control and escorting over 2,000 mourners at Barry Funeral Home, Lieutenant Crippen noted, and then some 15 of them showed up at St. Peter's Church the next day, on their own, standing at attention at the entrance and saluting as the casket was carried in.
"We are very proud of these cadets," said Lieutenant Crippen, advisor to the squadron commander. "These cadets never cease to amaze me with what they are capable of."
The second funeral had an overflowing crowd of 1,500 at the church and at Fort Stanwix, she noted.
"Lance Corporal Oleski was a phenomenal kid," she said.
Tears welled.
"This one hit me hard."
###
For Media Inquiries:
1st Lt. Bob Stronach, CAP
Public Affairs Officer
Central New York Group, Civil Air Patrol
(315) 796-9468