By Brian Zanzonico
Other residents sent tubes of toothpaste and much needed sticks of lip balm. Members of the Franklin Square Senior Center wrote letters of support, some with money attached.
On March 30, the U.S. Army's Alpha Troop of the 114th Cavalry, which includes Franklin Square resident and Purple Heart recipient Brian Buith, 20, received 24 boxes full of care packages shipped over as part of the Morton Civic Association's Adopt-A-Soldier campaign. Sixty-five have been sent in total.
"He can't believe it," Buith's mother, Anne, said of the special deliveries. "I can't believe it. He said, 'Mom, you can't believe what they wrote.'"
Anne, who speaks to her son via instant messaging about twice a week, said the letters were filled with words of encouragement, support, and the wish that they return safely.
A 2004 graduate of Valley Stream North High School, Buith enlisted in the army a year later. He completed basic training at Fort Benning, Ga. in January 2006 and was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash. until June 2006. In late June 2006, as a member of the 114th Cavalry, he was deployed to Iraq.
Currently in his second tour of duty, Buith has twice been injured in battle. The first time, he sustained a concussion and shrapnel to his face when a 300-pound bomb exploded behind the Stryker, an eight-wheeled armored vehicle in which he serves as a gunner, on a Baghdad road. He also suffered a perforated ear drum, which he reinjured in combat in November.
"It's a war. It's definitely a war," said Anne, a secretary in Valley Stream Memorial Junior High School's athletic office. "I cringe when I open the paper. I'm a mother, you know. What do you expect?"
Buith was home for Christmas, a week that was full of highs and lows. First, with intervention by Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy, he finally received the $20,000 enlisting bonus that wasn't paid by the Army when he joined in 2005. It turns out Buith not only got the money owed him, but money the military was short changing him in regular pay, Anne said. Sadly, he then got word that the 28-year-old Iraqi interpreter who traveled with Buith's outfit for months was the sole person killed in an attack on the Stryker he was riding in.
"He asked Brian to bring him back something from New York, so Brian got him a Mets hat," Anne said. "The guy was only 28 and he just got married. And he really believed in the cause, that what the U.S. was doing was right."
In February, Morton Civic's new Interim President, Kim Schutz, whose daughter went to high school with one of Anne's other sons, hatched the Adopt-A-Soldier campaign. Using the UPS Store in the Key Food shopping center on Dogwood Avenue in Franklin Square as the drop off point, members of the Morton Civic and other residents who read it in local newspapers began collecting snacks, razors, deodorant, decks of cards, magazines and other items. Before long, dozens of large boxes were being filled with care packages and shipped to the Middle East.
"I'm so proud of this community," Schutz said. "They've really pulled together and made an effort for one of our own."
Lily Fresa, a coordinator at the Franklin Square Senior Center, read about the campaign in the Herald and floated the idea of writing to the troops to the members. Before long, the seniors, many with close ties to the armed forces, began writing to the Alpha Troop of the 114th Cavalry.
"A lot of the seniors have grandsons in the service and a lot were in World War II and the Korean War themselves," Fresa said. "We just want to help out."
Anne said the care packages are much needed, especially since it doesn't look like Buith and his fellow soldiers in the 114th Cavalry will be returning home any time soon.
"The army said, 'Be prepared for the worst, hope for best,'" Anne said of the possible end of Buith's second tour.
With schools closed this week for spring break, Anne, who along with husband, Bill, are also the parents of Billy and Bobby, is catching up on house cleaning. She finds chores to be a distraction, but her minds never wanders far from her middle child fighting a war a world away.
"We're all anxious," she said. "It's been an anxious 9 months."
For information on how to donate a care package, or money to offset shipping costs, call Schutz at (212) 997-0500, ext. 3174.
Comments about this story? FSeditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 240.
