Help is on the way
THE FAMILY OF ONE of the seven servicemen who died in a military helicopter crash in Iraq is getting help to cover their housing costs.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation kicked off a charity campaign Sunday to cover the mortgage for FDNY Lt. Christopher Raguso, 39, of Battalion 50 in Queens. The foundation is donating $100,000 and hopes others will donate the rest.
During an emotional news conference at a Brooklyn firehouse, Raguso’s grief-stricken mother, Laura Raguso, told reporters she begged her son not to sign up with
the military.
“I said, ‘Papi, please, why do you have to do this?’ ” she recalled. “And he said, ‘Mommy, because if I don’t, who’s going to do it?’ ”
The 13-year FDNY veteran from Commack, L.I., is survived by his wife, Carmella, and their two daughters, ages 5 and 6.
Raguso “was an extraordinary man, he was a superhero in my eyes and hopefully in all of our eyes,” said his father-in-law, Anthony DiChiara.
Raguso and FDNY Fire Marshal Christopher (Tripp) Zanetis, 37, died Thursday when their Pave Hawk helicopter hit a power line and crashed near the Syrian border.
The other victims were Capt. Andreas O’Keefe, 37, of Center Moriches, L.I.; Staff Sgt. Dashan Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, L.I.; Capt. Mark Weber, 29, of Colorado Springs; Master Sgt. William Posch, 36, of Indialantic, Fla., and Staff Sgt. Carl Enis, 31, of Tallahassee, Fla.
On Sunday, O’Keefe’s neighbor Sara Stoia, 85, was devastated when she heard the news. “He was just a terrific man,” she said. “He has lived here many years with his wife. He would shovel my snow.”