Plainfield Marine named town's hero

PLAINFIELD -- Nick Gabor didn't know he was Plainfield's Hometown Hero until Thursday night.

Gabor, 23, a Marine recently home from Iraq, was recognized as such by WGN AM-720 radio during a remote broadcast from downtown Plainfield.

Radio host Steve Cochran broadcast his show from O'Sullivan's Irish Restaurant and Pub on Thursday as part of the station's Hometown Voices tour.

The son of Terry and Marypat Gabor and a 2003 Plainfield Central High School graduate, Nick arrived in Plainfield on Monday from a seven-month tour of duty in Fallujah. It was his second tour -- his first deployment was to Okinawa, Japan, for seven months in 2006.

When she heard about WGN's Hometown Voice tour, and that the station was seeking nominations for a hometown hero, Marypat Gabor e-mailed the producer her son's story.

Wednesday she found out Nick had been chosen as Plainfield's Hometown Hero.

"He truly defines what a hometown hero is," said Rick O'Connor, producer for Steve Cochran's show.

The Hometown Voices tour takes one of the station's shows on the road each month, broadcasting live from Chicago-area communities.

Gabor said Nick had always wanted to be in the military. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, his desire to enlist grew stronger.

He joined the Marine Corps in January 2005.

"He's my hero," Gabor said. "You'd think I was a puppy dog the way I'm following him around the house."

Besides a trip to California to visit his brother, Nick Gabor will be home until May 19, when he must report back to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, N.C.