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Frank DeAngelis, an honorary 'Band of Brothers' member, stands |
By CATHY DYSON
After Marine Sgt. Joshua Frazier was killed by an Iraqi sniper last year, his family received sympathy cards from as far away as the Netherlands.
The outpouring from friends, neighbors and strangers was comforting.
"I'm in awe that people we will never meet would do that," said his mother, Shelia Cutshall of Spotsylvania County. "It helps to recognize what he did, what he gave."
Last month, Cutshall received an even more impressive honor for her son from another stranger.
It's a 20-by-20-inch shadow box, filled with the 11 medals, five
It was assembled by New Jersey resident Frank DeAngelis, a World War II veteran who has made it his mission to honor every Marine killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003.
"You have to remember, I came back from the war. I was one of the lucky ones," DeAngelis said during a phone interview. "God was good to me in my lifetime, and now it's my turn to give back."
The retired contractor has been building one-of-a-kind shadow boxes for more than 40 years. He has put together collections for every branch of the service, from privates to generals, for Navy buddies he served with and Medal of Honor recipients he never met.
For decades, he worked in his basement, and no one knew about his work except the recipients.
That was fine by him.
Then in 2003, after he read, "Band of Brothers," DeAngelis started doing shadow boxes exclusively for the 101st Airborne members of Easy Company. The soldiers made him an honorary member--something they had never done before, according to the Band of Brothers Web site.
The press got a hold of the story, "and all hell broke loose after that," DeAngelis joked. He got letters from across the world.
A few years later, he made shadow boxes for Rhode Island Marines killed in Iraq. He had been cutting back on the boxes because, after all these years, he was getting tired of the assembly.
But, then, he got such touching letters from the families who received them that he rededicated himself. He vowed to create a shadow box for every Marine killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He has shipped out about 300 boxes and still has twice that many to do.
Why the fondness for Marines? As a Navy man stationed in the Pacific during World War II, DeAngelis watched as one Marine company after another boarded landing craft and faced enemy fire.
"When you see so many invasions, you got to realize how many are not coming back," he said. "Well, I never forgot that."
Likewise, DeAngelis never accepted a penny for his gifts. He pays for all the materials, which can get expensive when one Purple Heart Medal costs $36.
He doesn't like to give his age because he doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for him and send him money. Any checks he has received have been donated to a fund for injured Marines.
He also hates to put a price on his work, but he guesses he has spent more than $1 million in materials over 40 years.
"I'm nobody special," he said. "You must understand that. I'm just someone who cared and does what he does because of the importance to the mothers."
Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
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In New Jersey, Frank DeAngelis works with the 6th Motor Transport Battalion DeAngelis knows the commandant as well as other top-ranking officials. When they learned of his mission, they told casualty officers Each Tuesday, Smith's out- DeAngelis assembles the service bars and awards, attaches them to Velcro The unusual duty isn't part of the Red Bank unit's assignment, but the Marines help DeAngelis because of an arrangement he had with a former officer. They'll continue to help him as long as he makes the boxes, Smith said. "He's a great friend of the Marine Corps," he said. "Everything he does is |
