From Connecticut To Iraq––

More Newtown Servicemen Answering the Call

By Dottie Evans

An article in the April 11 Newtown Bee listed five Newtown residents who are currently serving in the military in Iraq or who are in training for future deployment overseas. They are Specialist Tahkeisha Butler, US Army, Sergeant Colin Doniger, US Army, Corporal Brett Ingenito, US Marines, Specialist Richard Monckton, US Army, and Lance Corporal Douglas Snow, US Marines.

Since then we have received four more names of young Newtown men serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the Marines, as well as photographs and information from their families at home.

Lance Corporal Matthew J. Luczak, US Marines, 21, is the son of Alexander and Mary (Gallagher) DeLucia of Brookfield and John and Vicki Luczak of Roxbury, formerly of Newtown. He is a graduate of Brookfield High School with the Class of 2000 and attended Springfield College in Springfield, Mass.

Lance Corporal Luczak is a third generation marine and the grandson of Frank and Miriam DeLucia of Newtown. His grandmother Miriam DeLucia said her grandson had visited their High View Road home regularly since the age of 8, and now that he is in the service “he calls regularly.”

“We have eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild and he talks to all of them. In past years he has always come home in July to go fishing in Vermont with his grandpa,” Mrs DeLucia said.

“We send him packages, and he made us laugh when he said that most servicemen just want cigarettes and chewing gum, as well as photographs of pretty girls.”

Lance Corporal Luczak concluded basic training in June and is now at the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown, Va. Before going into the service, he was enrolled at Boston College.

Captain James G. Mead, US Air Force, 34, is the son of John and Marion Mead of 112 South Main Street, Newtown. He is currently stationed out of Maguire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

Captain Mead was born in Newtown in 1969 and graduated from Newtown High School with the Class of 1987. His birthday was April 24. The family has three more sons and their father, John Mead, served in the military.

Captain Mead has earned a bachelor’s degree in criminology at Troy State University while in the military and is now working on his master’s degree.

 “Jim joined the US Navy at first, serving for seven years,” said his mother, Marion Mead, adding that “he was in the Navy while serving in the first Gulf war.”

Then he went into the Air Force Officer Training Program and was stationed in Scotland during the war with Kosovo as a member of a military support unit. His current job with the air mobility unit involves setting up, loading, and unloading planes.

Captain Mead served in the war in Afghanistan and is presently serving in Iraq. His parents are not at liberty to say exactly where he is right now.

“He left here at the end of February and we do hear from him through email now and then. They are very short messages but it’s wonderful to have them,” said Mrs Mead.

Navy Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin L. Dahlmeyer is the son of Cathryn and Detlef Dahlmeyer of Sunnyview Terrace, Newtown. He is currently participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom in the Arabian Gulf while assigned to Fighter Squadron 22, based at naval Air Station Oceana out of Virginia Beach, Va.

The squadron is onboard the aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman, homeported in Norfolk, Va.

Officer Dahlmeyer is one of more than 8,000 Atlantic Fleet sailors and marines assigned to the ships and squadrons of the carrier battle group.

His squadron flies the Navy’s F-14B Tomcat, a twin-engine supersonic fighter capable of intercepting enemy aircraft at long range and engaging multiple targets simultaneously. The Tomcat can also be used in reconnaissance and can deliver ordnance against targets ashore and at sea.

Captain Dahlmeyer is a 1999 graduate of Newtown High School and joined the Navy in July 1999.

Specialist Bryan D. Raymond, United States Army, is the son of Judy Ryan Raymond of Newtown and David Raymond of New York. He left Tuesday, April 8, to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The following day, US forces rode into the center of Baghdad and brought down the statue of Saddam Hussein.

Specialist Raymond enlisted in April 2001. He graduated after 16 weeks of basic training from Fort Sill, Okla., with Bravo Battery, 2nd Platoon, COBRAS. He had been stationed since August 2001 at Fort Carson, Colo., attached to Charlie Battery, 3rd Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Unit, 4th Infantry Division based out of Fort Hood, Tex. While there, he received medals for sharp shooting in basic rifle marksmanship and expertise in the use of hand grenades. He drives a tank equipped with a 155mm lightweight howitzer.

Specialist Raymond had been waiting for deployment since February when the ship carrying equipment from his base at Fort Carson left for Turkey. When the ship finally did leave Turkey for Kuwait, he got his orders. He was expected to be in Kuwait approximately eight days and then proceed to move north into Iraq.

He is a 2000 graduate of Newtown High School and was a volunteer firefighter since the age of 16 with the Botsford and Dodgingtown fire stations. He is married to Ashley Derkaz Raymond of Colorado Springs, Colo., and they are expecting their first child in July.

His wife and mother have not heard from him since deployment to Kuwait, so they do not know yet where he is. News reports state the 4th Infantry Division is on the move to Iraq.