Mount Vernon Marine returns home from Iraq to stay

By LEN MANIACE
THE JOURNAL NEWS

(Original publication: April 15, 2007)

MOUNT VERNON - For much of the evening, Marine Sgt. Daniel Fondanella was too busy to stop by the buffet table that was stuffed with chicken, pasta salad and a huge Italian hero.

He was busy greeting friends and family who held a party to welcome the 27-year-old Marine back from Iraq, this time to stay.

Jason McKenna - Fondanella's best friend since the two were 6 growing up in New Rochelle -was among them. An hour earlier, McKenna was at La Guardia Airport about to board a plane back to law school in North Carolina, cutting short his visit with Fondanella due to the predicted nor'easter. But then he changed his mind again.

"I couldn't miss this. I'll get back somehow," said McKenna, as he stood in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 596 Hall on South Third Avenue.

After four years in the Marines, Fondanella was discharged on April 6. Serving with the 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, Fondanella was on three combat tours, each about seven months, one in Afghanistan and two in Iraq.

There were ambushes to contend with in Afghanistan and roadside bombs during his first Iraqi tour in Fallujah. The last tour, in Ramadi, was worse, he said.

"In Ramadi, they did both," Fondanella said.

His grandmother, Bonney Creighton, reminded him about the rosary beads she had given him before he left for basic training in Parris Island, S.C.

The prayer beads had belonged to her father, who served with the Canadian Army in World War I.

"I carried them in my breast pocket wherever I went," Fondanella said.

Fondanella's girlfriend, Venessa Muoio, said she can now stop worrying.

The couple stayed in touch mostly through the Internet. They could talk only weekly when Fondanella was in Fallujah, but more frequently in the more hazardous Ramadi, where missions lasted only three days.

Because of the time difference, Fondanella was usually available to talk at 3 a.m., so the two worked out an elaborate system. He would text message her cell phone, waking her. Muoio would boot up her computer and the two would chat on the Internet. Because her computer was equipped with a webcam, Fondanella could see Muoio from half a world away.

"I would hurry and brush my hair and put on lipstick first," Muoio said, laughing.

Asked about his most difficult moments during the four years, Fondanella said it was the death of four members of his company. Fondanella was promoted to sergeant last fall, and he was responsible for telling his troops.

"It was especially tough when it involved someone you had been talking to a few minutes before," Fondanella said.

The best moment probably was a New Year's Eve celebration that greeted 2007 when Marines were able to exchange helmets and weapons for party hats and noise makers.

"Just seeing everybody making the best of it was great," Fondanella said.

Though Ramadi was the most dangerous tour, Fondanella said there were clear signs that life was improving for the people living there during his stay.

"We were making them feel more safe as time went on. Where women wouldn't ever walk around, you would see them. Schools opened and a hospital, too," Fondanella said. "And it had become a safer place for us, too."

Described by his mother, Gale, as the family comedian, Fondanella worked at several jobs, including a supervisory stint at a video store and a New Rochelle country club, before he decided to enlist in the Marine Corps in April 2003.

"I remember watching the Gulf War on TV, and when we were going to go to war in Iraq, I wanted to be that guy doing the same thing," Fondanella recalled.

Now, Fondanella is making plans for life after the Marines. He wants to take a firefighters test for several Westchester fire departments. It's a job he has thought about since he was a child.

He returned to New York in mid-March, just in time for a trip to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Manhattan and a belated Thanksgiving dinner in the family's home in Mount Vernon.

"We had turkey, stuffing the whole thing," Gale Fondanella said. "We had a lot to be thankful for."

Dan Fondanella often thinks about the men he served with who are still in Iraq. "It feels good to be back, but it will feel better when I know all my guys are back, too," Fondanella said.

McKenna said he supported his friend's decision to join the Marines, though he worried about his safety. But McKenna added that he was confident that his old friend would safely return.

"He is a survivor," McKenna said. "We didn't come up in the most affluent homes. But he did good. He's got something in him."

Mount Vernon Marine returns home from Iraq to stay