If we only had more people like this patriotic young man. Passed up a scholarship to Berklee to serve. God Bless him.
A Salem soldier who passed up a scholarship to Berklee College of Music to join the military was killed Friday in Iraq, his family said last night.
Cpl. Nicholas Arvanitis, 22, a member of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, was shot while on patrol with special forces, his grandmother said.
"There was gunfire and he got hit," said Rita Dill of Old Rockingham Road, who helped raise Arvanitis.
Arvanitis enlisted after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, picking the Army over studying music at Berklee, said Dill, a retiree from Rockingham Park in Salem.
"After 9-11 he came home one day and said, 'I'm joining the 82nd Airborne,'" Dill said. "He says, 'I'm going in for a good reason. I want to make you and Grampy and my family safe.'"
Arvanitis was a squadron leader and had been stationed in Iraq since August, Dill said. The year before, he was deployed to Afghanistan.
The last time he was home was for the funeral of Robert L. Moscillo, a 21-year-old Marine lance corporal from Salem who was killed in Iraq in May when his Humvee struck a land mine.
Arvanitis loved the 82nd Airborne and rose to command a squad despite his youth, said his grandmother. He had decided he wanted to continue with a military career.
"He was just a joy, a really nice boy," Dill said. "He never gave anybody a hard time. He was a good kid."
A Salem High School graduate, Arvanitis played baseball, soccer and was a member of the championship wrestling team.
He was a guitarist and formed his own band with a group of friends, Rita Dill and her husband, Leonard Dill, said.
Military officers came to the Dills' home to notify the family on Friday. The grandparents followed the officers' car to the Manchester home of Arvanitis' mother, Maureen, who was told of the death.
Dill said the family has been flooded with email messages from people who served with Arvanitis and were impressed by him; a service in Kuwait for him drew a larger than normal crowd, she said.
At least 18 other servicemen with New Hampshire ties have been killed in Iraq or Afghanistan in the past years. Besides the deaths of Arvanitis and Moscillo, Salem has had two wounded soldiers recently.
Pfc. Cindy "Syndi" DuBois, 24, earned her second Purple Heart in July after her leg was injured when her Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb.
Army Spc. Joseph Bohne, 22, was wounded in a June explosion in Taji, north of Baghdad.
He wanted to fight
By MIKE KALIL
Union Leader Correspondent
Salem – Cpl. Nicholas Arvanitis had the chance to become a military recruiter, but decided to go to war instead, his sister said yesterday.
Kim Arvanitis encouraged him to take the job earlier this year so he'd be safe in the United States rather than risking his life overseas. But it just wasn't his style to sit back while his fellow soldiers were at war, she said.
"He wanted to be a fighter," Kim Arvanitis, 24, said yesterday, standing in front of Salem High School.
Nicholas Arvanitis was killed by gunfire in Iraq on Friday, the day after he turned 22. A member of a military family, he belonged to the 82nd Airborne Division and was a 2003 graduate of Salem High. He had been in Iraq since August.
Arvanitis had an interest in joining the military for years, and rushed at the opportunity when he was only 17, the sister said. His mother, Maureen, had to give him permission to enlist. The brother and sister had participated in the Sea Cadets program in Methuen, Mass., when they were children.
Arvanitis, who had also served in Afghanistan, was thinking about attending college when his military duty was up. He was due to come home in just under than a year, said Kim Arvanitis, who has also served in Iraq. He expressed interest in becoming a paramedic and then making a career out of music.
He was a talented athlete and musician, she said, who was friends with all kinds of people. At Salem High, he was known as a wrestler and also as a guitarist for the school's jazz band. He also played in a metal band called Thrall when he was a student.
On Sunday, Arvanitis' grandmother, Rita Dill of Salem, spoke of how he had turned down a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music in Boston to enlist.
Trevor Peschek, 22, of Windham sometimes played music with Arvanitis.
The last time Peschek saw Arvanitis, he had been given a short break from service. A bunch of their friends got together to play music, he said, and Arvanitis expressed interest in getting a band together when his service was through. He said Arvanitis was a gifted and versatile guitarist.
"It greatly saddens me that I won't get to jam with him again," Peschek said in an e-mail. "I was looking forward to it. He had a great personality. This wasn't meant to be."
Marty Claussen, Salem High School's band director, said Arvanitis' ability to make friends with all kinds of personalities probably served him well in the military. He said he believes his accepting personality helped make him a "natural leader" because servicemen come from all different backgrounds.
He said he wasn't surprised to learn that he turned down a recruiter position and instead went to war.
"He wanted to be with his guys, and that sounds just like Nick," said Claussen, who also served in the military. "I know he knew that when he went over there that it was dangerous."
Arvanitis was also friends with Marine Lance Cpl. Robert Moscillo of Salem, who was killed in May in Iraq at 21 when the Humvee he was riding in struck a land mine. The two shared some of the same friends, the sister said.
Nicholas Arvanitis came home for Moscillo's funeral; it was his last visit.
Kim Arvanitis said funeral arrangements are still being worked out, but the family knows services will be held in Salem. She said services will likely be held early next week.
Claussen said he has agreed to have high school trumpet players participate in the funeral.
Posted by: tikrit22
God bless him.
Posted by: justanotherparatrooper
Quote:
Originally Posted by tikrit22
God bless him.
JUST NOTHING YOU CAN REALLY ADD TO THAT
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