County celebrates new Freedom Medal Award winners
SPRINGFIELD » Honoring America’s veterans should not be limited to the eleventh day of the eleventh month.
The Delaware County Veterans Memorial Association and Delaware County Council insure that respect is year-round.
More than 500 local residents joined Thursday night for the fourth annual Freedom Medal Award dinner. The event at Springfield Country Club provided an Olympic-style podium to congratulate dedication to country recipients Marty Costello, Jennifer Jones, Bill Kinney Jr., Jerry Sweeley and Sean Sweeney, Dr. Tina Kane (dedication to education), the Videon family (dedication to community) and Delaware County Councilman David White (president’s award).
“This is an opportunity to honor our heroes for their service and sacrifice,” said Army veteran and association board President Guy Fizzano. “It is also a chance to thank our donors, who support the memorial’s upkeep and its educational programs.”
This year’s honorees represent the best of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps. Costello, of Radnor, enlisted in the Navy in 1976 and served as an aircraft mechanic with Attack Squadron 82. He has dedicated numerous hours
“This is an opportunity to honor our heroes for their service and sacrifice. It is also a chance to thank our donors, who support the memorial’s upkeep and its educational programs.” — Army veteran and association board President Guy Fizzano
to local veterans’ organizations and their causes, including as commander of the Delaware County American Legion committee, and worked to rebuild and rededicate the war memorial in his home town.
“I accept this for all veterans and all of us in Radnor,” he said. “Veterans insured our rights, freedoms and liberties and came back and gave to their communities.”
Jones, whose brothers, son and nephew are also in the military, joined the family business by enlisting in the Army in 1986. A veteran of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, she also saw tours in Honduras, Germany, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. She is now an investigator with the Chester Police juvenile division and after her retirement plans to mentor law enforcement personnel and youth.
Kinney, of Middletown, delayed his college education to enlist in the Marine Corps, serving in Vietnam in 1966-1967. Upon his return he joined the VFW, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans and has assisted in performing more than 1,000 military funerals. He was inducted into the Chapel of the Four Chaplains Legion of Honor in 2016.
Born a few years after World War II, Sweeley, of Marple, joined the Army Security Agency in 1965. He served as a communications security specialist with top-secret clearance, returning from Vietnam two years later. He has supported veterans and their causes for more than 50 years as a member of the VFW and Delaware County Historical Society veterans’ education committee.
An eighth grader on Sept. 11, Sweeney, of Springfield, enlisted in the Marine Corps five years later. He and his battalion were sent to Fallujah, Iraq, in 2008 and within 12 months to Afghanistan, where they supported infantry and recon units by building bridges, conducting route clearance and constructing patrol bases.
The event was a bit of a family affair, as Kane is Sweeley’s daughter. As a teacher, assistant principal and now principal of Paxon Hollow Middle School in the Marple Newtown School District, she has initiated letter writing campaigns and partnership projects with veterans’ organizations and created a Veterans Day program in conjunction with the Delaware County Historical Society.
Her acceptance noted her connection to the late Linda Houldin, one of the founding members of the veterans’ memorial association who died in September. Her vision will continue with the naming of the Linda M. Houldin Education Fund.
“Linda was involved in the educational aspect before my career even started,” said Kane. “She was always there as a supporter.”
Speaking on behalf “of all 68 of us,” Dave Videon credited their mother and father as the reason the family was being honored. The Videons have been major financial and in-kind backers of the association and have served on its board of directors.
White, of Ridley Township, has also continuously supported the memorial and the Pennsylvania Veteran’s Museum in Media, where a room has been named in his honor.
“My father was a medic and would not speak of his time in the service,” said White. “My life has been blessed and fortunate and I stand here by the devotion of your service.”