BEYOND the CALL
Marines make special delivery at Poland school
By RICK ROUAN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND — Students at Poland North Elementary School on Friday chanted “USA! USA!” as two helicopters full of Marines crested the tree line behind the playground.
The trip was a standard delivery and pickup mission, but the cargo aboard the UH-1N Huey was neither artillery nor a commander being dropped into a combat zone. On this trip, the eight Marines were delivering phone books to help the school’s recycling program and a check to aid the school’s Make-A-Wish campaign. They left with a box full of letters of appreciation from the students.
“Part of our mission is community relations,” said Maj. Rob Tifft of the U.S. Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 in Johnstown, Pa. “It’s always fun.”
The helicopter landing is the fourth in eight years at the elementary school, Principal Mike Masucci said, but Friday marked the first time Marines flew two helicopters to the school.
The aircraft were a Huey UH-1N, which is used to transport missiles and military commanders into unfriendly territory and to do reconnaissance, and an AH-1W Super Cobra, a twin-engine attack helicopter, Tifft said.
After buzzing the trees behind the playground, the helicopters landed in the field, blowing coats open and drowning out the students’ chatter. Five students presented the Marines with letters of appreciation from the school, and Tifft gave a check and phone books to aid in the students’ projects.
Masucci emphasized to students that the school and Marines were engaging in “cooperation,” the school’s word of the month.
“That is probably the most important lesson you can learn from flying or from anything,” Tifft said. “We work together as a team.”
The cooperation with the Marines is a help to the school, which is working on several projects this year. One of those community projects is to help grant a wish through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.
The school has raised about $4,000 of the $6,000 necessary to grant a wish, Masucci said.
“The kids do get it, that this is a little more than just seeing the helicopters,” Masucci said.
Typically, the helicopters fly in from Johnstown, Pa., every other year, but Masucci said he was inspired to ask them to come again this year by an incoming kindergartner who asked where the principal kept them.
“Most of them look forward to it,” he said. “They’re always surprised. They’re always grateful.”
After the exchange of letters, money and phone books was finished, students took turns sitting in the helicopters and asking questions of the Marines.
“I thought there was a tornado coming,” said Stephen Hrusovski, 6, a first-grader, of the gust the helicopters created.
“I like the steering wheel,” said Nicholas Manack, 7, a first-grader. “It’s really awesome.”
rrouan@vindy.com