The Herald, Sharon, Pa.

Local News

Related Photos

November 9, 2008

Recall milestones in life of loved one, fallen soldiers’ families urged

By Tom Davidson

GREENVILLE — When Frank Vanderslice was serving in Vietnam he thought about his parents often.

“My three years there I reflected less on myself and more on other people,” Vanderslice told fellow Greenville Elks Lodge members and a few special guests Sunday.

He spoke two days before Veterans Day as the Elks presented medals of valor and flags to the families of three of the soldiers killed while fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“When you first saw them they were so many inches and so many pounds and ounces,” Vanderslice told the families of Staff Sgt. James D. Mowris, Sgt. Michael A. Marzano and Staff Sgt. David M. Veverka.

For more than 18 years they cared for and loved them, “never expecting to outlive” them.

“Remember these men not just as military men who died for us,” Vanderslice said, but as people.

He asked the families to remember the first time their sons went away to school for that “six hours that seemed like an eternity.”

“And then they came home, oh what a relief!” Vanderslice said.

Then he asked them to remember their sons’ first “wounds in life”: scraped knees, broken legs. As they grew up there was a time when “you weren’t always there,” Vanderslice said.

“But with your guidance they came out OK,” he said.

Then they came home one day and said “Mom, Dad, I want to join the service,” and they did, he said.

They served in a war different than World War I or II, he said.

“It wasn’t a war necessarily to protect our freedom,” Vanderslice said. “Since Korea, wars aren’t battle fronts anymore, they’re everywhere.”

And for Mowris, Marzano and Veverka the battle proved to be fatal.

Staff Sgt. Mowris, 37, of Aurora, Mo., died Jan. 24, 2004, west of Ghazni, Afghanistan. He was a Pennsylvania native.

Sgt. Marzano, 28, of Greenville, was killed May 7, 2005, in Haditha, Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Veverka, 25, of Jamestown was killed May 6, in Diwaniyah, Iraq.

Their families were presented with medals of valor and flags by the Elks, who have a long tradition of supporting veterans, Exalted Ruler Mark Wasser said.

“We thank you deeply for your sacrifices,” Vanderslice told the families.

The ceremony was the first of several planned this week to celebrate Veterans Day. Mercer County has lost four other men in the war in Iraq: Sgt. 1st Class Daniel A. Brozovich, 42, of Greenville, was killed Oct. 18, 2006, in Ashraf, Iraq; Spc. Douglas E. Kashmer, 27, who had ties to Sharon and the Reynolds area, was killed June 8, 2005, in Nippur, Iraq; Sgt. Shawn A. Graham, 34, who grew up in Grove City and lived in Texas, was killed Sept. 25, 2005, in Baghdad; and Lt. Col. Michael E. McLaughlin, 44, of East Lackawannock Township was killed Jan. 6 in Ramadi, Iraq.

Text Only
Local News
  • Labor Dept.: Franchise’s workers not paid properly

    The owners of the Brookfield Subway restaurant have been paying their employees less than minimum wage, shorting them on overtime pay and violating child labor laws for two years, a federal lawsuit alleges.

    February 7, 2012

  • Insecurity: Firm loses more local clients

    Reynolds Area School District is scrambling to find people to work security at upcoming games after finding out the Pittsburgh-area security firm they were using had some guards who were convicted felons or sex offenders.
    “That was a shock, believe me,” said school board President John Lowry.

    February 7, 2012

  • School budget predictions improve

    The upshot to planning for a worst-case scenario is it makes any change an improvement.
    Such is the case with Farrell Area School District’s finances, business manager William Dungee told school board members Monday.

    February 7, 2012

  • Chief gripe: Cramped quarters

    In Sharpsville, the long arm of the law needs room to stretch out.
    Police Chief Keith Falasco told council members Monday night that his department’s current space “is at the least inadequate,” and after off-and-on talks over the years to make improvements, he said the time has come.

    February 7, 2012

  • Pets perish in house fire

    A Sharon family’s home was heavily damaged in a Saturday night fire that killed their pets.

    February 6, 2012

  • Kelly rallies GOP faithful

    Mercer County Republicans agreed it was time for a change from the current administration at their annual Lincoln Day dinner Saturday night at Hempfield Station One Banquet Center, and Congressman Mike Kelly called not only for change but for more accountability.

    February 6, 2012

  • Mother leads charge for son’s autism therapy


    Gov. Tom Corbett’s budget cuts are preventing children with autism from getting the help they need.

    February 5, 2012

  • Victim describes armed robbery at her home

    Charges were held to court Friday against a Sharon teen charged as an adult in an October armed robbery.

    February 4, 2012

  • Overheated motor starts small fire at gas well

    Jamestown volunteer firefighters put out an accidental natural gas well equipment fire Friday morning in Greene Township that started when a pump motor overheated.

    February 4, 2012

  • Burglary was man’s solution to money woes

    The end of 2010 was “a crazy time in my life,” Grant T. Lockhart told a judge Thursday.

    February 4, 2012