By Lisa Gunggoll, Director of Operations and Communications
An Army carry team carries the remains of Army Pfc. Michael C. Olivieri at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Wednesday. | Jose Luis Magana~AP
With a war that’s lasted longer than any other, the reality is that if you wait long enough, sooner or later the statistics will catch up with you. When asked why I got involved with Illinois Patriot Education Fund (IPEF), I always explain to people that it’s because I have had family who have served (five generations in the Navy on my husband’s side) and also because it’s the least I can do for all of those families who have sacrificed. But, when I hear that more than 250 Illinois soldiers have given their lives for our freedom, I can’t help but act. Now that number has grown by one.
Last Monday, Pfc. Michael Olivieri was killed while serving in Iraq, along with four other U.S. soldiers, when insurgents launched an attack on their base, according to officials. What makes Olivieri’s death particularly poignant is that he hails from my community, Homer Glen, in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago. Never mind that I normally tell people I’m from nearby Lemont or Orland Park because nobody’s ever heard of Homer Glen. The fact remains that this is where I call home and that’s the same for the Olivieri family, where they will now have to carry on proudly without their son, husband, brother, grandson and patriot.
Homer Glen is a small but close-knit community, where plans are already being made to honor Pfc. Olivieri in the form of a special memorial at the Homer Township Public Library, where his mother Jody works. They are creating a “Heroes” quiet reading room as part of a library expansion to honor the 26-year-old soldier and others in the military.
Olivieri was due home on Monday June 13, which would have been his one-year wedding anniversary with his wife Sharon, and was also due to attend his sister’s wedding on the 25th. All of this makes his death especially hard for his family and friends to take. From all accounts, however, they have been nothing but proud of his service to his country.
Olivieri was a 2002 graduate of nearby Lockport Township High School (where another of our volunteers is a teacher) and attended Southern Illinois University. He also started and played in a local band called The Moops. His friends called him, “The glue that held us together.”
Olivieri is also survived by his father, Mike, sisters Elizabeth and Ashley, brother Joe, and grandparents Joseph and Adelaide Olivieri and Dorothy Riegel.
I write this to not only report on the loss of an Illinois soldier, but to put into perspective why we here at Illinois Patriot Education Fund do what we do, put in the hours that we do and are working so hard toward Medinah Patriot Day. It’s so that when the inevitable happens and a soldier is lost from your community — you can do something to help the family that is left behind.
Won’t you please join us? Go to www.medinahpatriotday.com to learn more about our event and to register for the entire day or for just the dinner gala. Or if you cannot attend, consider making a one-time donation by texting “Patriot” to 48510. You may also donate by clicking here. Thank you for your support.