By:Nicole Falco
I would tell him to always remember you-re special to Grandma, Margaret, 82, said. You-re gonna be all right; Grandma-s praying for you ... [but] he was more worried about me. He was afraid something would happen to me while he was over there.
Wahl braved tough situations daily, first in Bosnia and Kosovo and then Iraq, but he always had his family on his mind. In his last phone call to his father, he expressed concern for his wife, Maricela, and daughter, Alexis, 4. The two were living on an Army base in Germany.
He wanted to get Maricela and the baby home, said Leonard Wahl, of Valley Stream. I told him I couldn-t promise him anything. I had told Maricela that she and the baby should come home, but she said no; she had to stay there for Greg.
Father and son spoke on a Thursday. The following Monday, May 3, Wahl, 30, was killed when the vehicle in which he was riding flipped over in a canal during a combat patrol in Balad, which is about 40 miles outside of Baghdad. Wahl and three others died. They were members of the 4th Cavalry of the Army-s 1st Infantry Division, based in Vilseck, Germany.
Wahl-s wife and daughter accompanied his body home. After repeated delays, they finally arrived at Kennedy Airport last Saturday at 3:45 p.m. His father met them at the airport, as did members of Maricela-s family.
I don-t think she-s going to get over this for a long time, Leonard said of his daughter-in-law. It really is a love story between the two of them.
Maricela has been staying with a sister in Hempstead. Although she was not up to speaking to the media, she expressed, through her father-in-law, her appreciation for the community-s compassion and sympathy.
Leonard said that sympathy stretches from Texas to North Carolina to Long Island and upstate New York. Gregory Wahl grew up in a few different places, and his military career took him to even more. Since his son-s death, Leonard has been inundated with phone calls. Many have come from various media outlets on Long Island and in North Carolina.
Wahl was born at Dover Air Force Base in Maryland while his father, who served four years in the Air Force, was stationed there. Gregory, the eldest of three boys, and his family, including his mother, Janis Cramer of Spring, Texas, eventually moved back to Long Island.
After Leonard was discharged the Wahls moved back to Valley Stream both Cramer and Leonard are Central High School graduates. Gregory attended Holy Name of Mary Elementary School and played Little League soccer. Family moves later took the Wahls to Lynbrook, Oceanside and, finally, North Carolina. Wahl graduated from West Rowan High School in Ulla, N.C. When his parents divorced, Wahl went to live with his mother in Texas. There he joined the Air National Guard.
For the most part, in his younger days without Maricela in his life, he was like a wildfire, Leonard said. He was very adventurous and [would] do things and not think about it. When he met Maricela, it was a total change.
Wahl met Maricela when he moved back to Valley Stream. After undergoing nuclear, biological and chemical warfare training in Alabama, he transferred to a Staten Island unit of the Air National Guard. While based in Staten Island, Wahl lived with his father. Leonard told his son about a Spanish beauty he knew who worked in a Valley Stream laundromat.
I introduced them. I told him there-s a nice, pretty Spanish girl in the laundromat and you should take her out, Leonard said. I gave him the money, and six months later they were married.
The couple married almost nine years ago. Leonard said his son-s marriage could rival the romance in Love Story. The reception was held in the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall on Merrick Road. Four years ago, Alexis was born. According to Leonard, she looks just like Gregory-s mother, and she knows that daddy-s with the angels.
The family was inseparable. Wahl would think nothing of shopping in a snowstorm if his wife wanted to go. The couple also enjoyed cooking together. They-d search for recipes on the Internet and then shop for the ingredients. Wahl-s love of cooking and his skills were passed down to him from his grandmother, Margaret, and his mother.
Wahl made the decision to enlist in the Army about a year after he married. According to his father, he felt the Army would offer him and Maricela a better life. Wahl was stationed in Fort Drum in upstate New York before he was transferred to Germany.
Being in the Army made him happy, it made Maricela happy, it made his mother happy, it made me happy, Leonard said of his son-s decision to enlist. The media doesn-t show enough of what these guys do that-s positive. You only hear the negative stuff. He was always positive. He was happy to be there. He thought he was doing the right thing.
Leonard said his son believed there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that he supported the war. While his father doesn-t necessarily support the war or agree with President Bush, he does support the troops.
I-m very impressed with Gregory and what he did, Leonard said of his son-s military career. Wahl was promoted to sergeant while he was stationed in Iraq.
He is also survived by two brothers, Joseph and Evan, both of Spring, Texas; and grandparents John and Evelyn Bree of North Carolina, formerly of Valley Stream.
Wahl was waked at Lieber-s Funeral Home. A funeral Mass took place on Wednesday at Holy Name of Mary Church. He has been buried in Pinelawn National Cemetery.
