Oil City, Pa. Wounded Warrior Project 08-22-08 Weekend
Until that day a year ago when Capt. Erick M. Foster came to see him, Army Spc. Bobby LaMarche hadn't heard of a commanding officer visiting one of his wounded soldiers in the States while on leave from Iraq.
"I looked up and there's my CO," said LaMarche, 21, who was in the middle of a physical therapy session in a Chicago hospital. "I said, 'Holy (cow), sir, what are you doing here?' "
Foster died a month later, on Aug. 28, in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when the enemy attacked his unit with small-arms fire, said Staff Sgt. Jim Wilt, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division. Foster, a paratrooper from Franklin Park and a Duquesne University graduate, was 29.
On Friday, friends and family in Oil City, the home of Foster's maternal grandparents, plan to honor him with a two-hour, "Olympic-proportion" musical fireworks show. Speeches begin at 5:30 p.m., and the fireworks begin at dusk.
"We wanted to do something special for him," said Robert Kellner, Foster's uncle and owner of Kellner's Fireworks Inc. in Butler County. Kellner coordinated the event and recruited five fireworks exhibitors from five states to conduct a 20-minute show each -- free of charge.
Little Big Shots Ltd., a fireworks display and manufacturing company in Somerset County plans to donate about 1,200 pounds of fireworks to the exhibition, said Albert Knoblach, the company's president. Knoblach remembers Foster when he was a kid working at his uncle's fireworks operation.
"It's special to be able to do this for someone you know," Knoblach said.
All money collected by the event will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group based in Jacksonville, Fla., that seeks to assist and empower troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lee James, a consultant with Raymond James Securities in Oil City who is overseeing the finances of the fireworks show, predicted the event would raise a minimum of $100,000.
"If this event raises $100,000, they will be among an elite group of other fundraisers done to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project," said Ayla Hay, an organization spokeswoman.
After visiting LaMarche, Foster talked about how impressed he was with the help provided by the group, Kellner said.
"We thought it'd be a unique way to help out the Wounded Warrior Project," Kellner said.
LaMarche, who lives in Escanaba, Mich., said people from the Wounded Warrior Project visited him more than once a week during the months he was hospitalized. They helped him with paperwork, donated money and invited him to events.
"They brought me on the Purple Heart cruise that happens every year in Chicago," said LaMarche, who will speak about his former captain a few hours before the first fireworks explode. "They made sure I stayed connected with people."
Foster's surprise appearance motivated LaMarche to work harder in his rehab sessions, LaMarche said. Doctors initially told him he wouldn't walk again after suffering a gunshot wound to the neck when his unit was ambushed during a mission June 15, 2007, in southeast Baghdad, LaMarche said.
But he can walk with a cane, and his mobility continues to improve, LaMarche said.
"Every time I didn't want to keep going, every time I didn't want to keep doing it, I would just say, 'This is for you, Capt. Foster,' " LaMarche said, his voice breaking. "I still can't believe he came to see me. Even after he was killed, he inspired me to keep pushing."
Foster's Chicago trip demonstrated the type of leader he was, said retired Army Col. Victor Bowser, 61, an Oil City resident and veteran of the conflicts in Vietnam, Panama and the Gulf.
"Erick took that extra step," said Bowser, who will speak at the event. "It shows he loved his soldiers. You feel a personal obligation for those under your command."
Foster joined the Army in May 2000, after graduating from Duquesne and earning a commission as a second lieutenant through ROTC. He completed a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004-05. Foster was killed during his second tour, which began in November 2006. His awards and commendations include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, Staff Sgt. Wilt said.
Foster is buried in Oil City's Grove Hill Cemetery next to his maternal grandfather, Robert S. Kellner, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy.
"This is a great way to honor him and remember him, especially so close to his one-year anniversary," said Robert Foster, 61, of Franklin Park, Foster's father and an admissions officer for the online South University.
Beth Werkheiser, 27, Foster's sister who lives in St. Louis, said she is not surprised her uncle chose to pay tribute to her brother with a fireworks show.
"He is not wasting his pain," said Werkheiser, who is helping found a Presbyterian church in St. Louis. "That's something we talked about as a family: Let's not waste the pain. Let's see as much good in it as you can see."
By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Read More"I looked up and there's my CO," said LaMarche, 21, who was in the middle of a physical therapy session in a Chicago hospital. "I said, 'Holy (cow), sir, what are you doing here?' "
Foster died a month later, on Aug. 28, in Muqdadiyah, Iraq, when the enemy attacked his unit with small-arms fire, said Staff Sgt. Jim Wilt, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne Division. Foster, a paratrooper from Franklin Park and a Duquesne University graduate, was 29.
On Friday, friends and family in Oil City, the home of Foster's maternal grandparents, plan to honor him with a two-hour, "Olympic-proportion" musical fireworks show. Speeches begin at 5:30 p.m., and the fireworks begin at dusk.
"We wanted to do something special for him," said Robert Kellner, Foster's uncle and owner of Kellner's Fireworks Inc. in Butler County. Kellner coordinated the event and recruited five fireworks exhibitors from five states to conduct a 20-minute show each -- free of charge.
Little Big Shots Ltd., a fireworks display and manufacturing company in Somerset County plans to donate about 1,200 pounds of fireworks to the exhibition, said Albert Knoblach, the company's president. Knoblach remembers Foster when he was a kid working at his uncle's fireworks operation.
"It's special to be able to do this for someone you know," Knoblach said.
All money collected by the event will go to the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit group based in Jacksonville, Fla., that seeks to assist and empower troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lee James, a consultant with Raymond James Securities in Oil City who is overseeing the finances of the fireworks show, predicted the event would raise a minimum of $100,000.
"If this event raises $100,000, they will be among an elite group of other fundraisers done to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project," said Ayla Hay, an organization spokeswoman.
After visiting LaMarche, Foster talked about how impressed he was with the help provided by the group, Kellner said.
"We thought it'd be a unique way to help out the Wounded Warrior Project," Kellner said.
LaMarche, who lives in Escanaba, Mich., said people from the Wounded Warrior Project visited him more than once a week during the months he was hospitalized. They helped him with paperwork, donated money and invited him to events.
"They brought me on the Purple Heart cruise that happens every year in Chicago," said LaMarche, who will speak about his former captain a few hours before the first fireworks explode. "They made sure I stayed connected with people."
Foster's surprise appearance motivated LaMarche to work harder in his rehab sessions, LaMarche said. Doctors initially told him he wouldn't walk again after suffering a gunshot wound to the neck when his unit was ambushed during a mission June 15, 2007, in southeast Baghdad, LaMarche said.
But he can walk with a cane, and his mobility continues to improve, LaMarche said.
"Every time I didn't want to keep going, every time I didn't want to keep doing it, I would just say, 'This is for you, Capt. Foster,' " LaMarche said, his voice breaking. "I still can't believe he came to see me. Even after he was killed, he inspired me to keep pushing."
Foster's Chicago trip demonstrated the type of leader he was, said retired Army Col. Victor Bowser, 61, an Oil City resident and veteran of the conflicts in Vietnam, Panama and the Gulf.
"Erick took that extra step," said Bowser, who will speak at the event. "It shows he loved his soldiers. You feel a personal obligation for those under your command."
Foster joined the Army in May 2000, after graduating from Duquesne and earning a commission as a second lieutenant through ROTC. He completed a tour of duty in Iraq in 2004-05. Foster was killed during his second tour, which began in November 2006. His awards and commendations include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, Staff Sgt. Wilt said.
Foster is buried in Oil City's Grove Hill Cemetery next to his maternal grandfather, Robert S. Kellner, a World War II veteran who served in the Navy.
"This is a great way to honor him and remember him, especially so close to his one-year anniversary," said Robert Foster, 61, of Franklin Park, Foster's father and an admissions officer for the online South University.
Beth Werkheiser, 27, Foster's sister who lives in St. Louis, said she is not surprised her uncle chose to pay tribute to her brother with a fireworks show.
"He is not wasting his pain," said Werkheiser, who is helping found a Presbyterian church in St. Louis. "That's something we talked about as a family: Let's not waste the pain. Let's see as much good in it as you can see."
By Mike Cronin
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
