Waubonsie Valley honors local veterans
As a student at Waubonsie Valley High School, Marine Sgt. David M. Caruso lettered in football.
On Monday, his parents were presented with another gold and green W. This time, it was for the ultimate act of bravery.
(Danielle Gardner/Staff Photographer)
"I never expected this at all," his father Joe Caruso said after the ceremony.
"Joe and Gloria, we share your grief, but along with you remain proud of David's service to the country," Assistant Principal Rudy Keller said as the framed letter was given to the Carusos.
Caruso, who graduated from Waubonsie Valley in 1998, died Nov. 9, 2004, in a firefight while serving in Fallujah, Iraq. He was 25.
"We're very honored that they would remember him," Gloria Caruso said. "David would probably have said, just as many veterans would have said, he was just doing his job."
Caruso was among the many men and women recognized during an all-school assembly early Monday morning that featured several guest speakers and patriotic music performed by the school's varsity singers and symphonic band. Afterwards, Gloria waited to speak with Marine Lance Corp. Joshua R. Mooi, who was recognized as a recipient of the Navy Cross.
"They don't consider themselves a hero at all. They just do it. That's how David died — protecting his team," Gloria Caruso said.
Caruso had been fighting when he spotted a medic who had been shot. He carried him off the battlefield to safety. Upon his return, he was shot.
Mooi, a campus safety officer at North Central College, is a graduate of Romeoville High School and lives in Bolingbrook. During Monday's assembly, Naperville Mayor and Marine veteran A. George Pradel read the citation from the Secretary of the Navy detailing Mooi's actions.
During Operation Steel Curtain, 21 enemy personnel attacked Mooi's platoon with grenades and automatic fire from several fortified buildings, Pradel said. Mooi repeatedly placed himself in harm's way to reinforce fellow Marines in one of the heavily fortified buildings.
Other speakers included retired Army Lt. Gen. Randall Rigby. During his 32 years of service in the Army as an artilleryman, Rigby served in Vietnam, Korea, Germany and Alaska. He also spent more than eight years in the Pentagon on the Army and Joint Staffs. He has commanded both heavy (armored) and light artillery units and commanded a nuclear capable 8-inch howitzer battalion.
In his remarks, he discussed the reason why people should honor veterans.
"I could sit up here and tell you, but I think you can look around here and figure it out," Rigby told the students, who were joined by several retired and active members of the service.
He then continued, reading excerpts from student essays answering the question of why veterans should be honored.
"Because men and women have fought and died for freedom most of America takes for granted," Rigby read.
