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140623-M-VQ614-139.JPG
Photo By: Sgt. Christopher Duncan
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - Daniel Caruso, retired Marine aviator, weeps while sharing a story and his warm feelings regarding his father, Sgt. Matthew Caruso, with a congregation of more than 100 Marines, sailors and civilian friends and family during the rededication of the Caruso Chapel, at the School of Infantry-West, here, June 23.
The chapel was initially dedicated to Caruso in 1953 and he was awarded the Silver Star Medal in 1950 for shielding father Connie Griffin, a chaplain then assigned to the 7th Marine Division (reinforced), from enemy fire with his body during an ambush in the Korean War, Dec. 6, 1950.
“My earliest childhood memory was that flag draped casket, and I remember my mother holding me and crying,” said Caruso, as he displays his father’s Silver Star Medal which was pinned on Daniel during a ceremony when he was 4 months old. “I don’t remember a thing before that, and if he were here today I would tell my father that ‘I wish I could have had you in mine and mom’s [lives], but you found a higher calling and I’m proud of you.’”
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