Fund raising aims to help Marine unit's wounded

By Jim Carney

Beacon Journal staff writer

Jeffrey Wiener

Even though the Marines of Akron Weapons Company have returned home, the effort to assist them continues.

The HM3 Jeffrey Wiener & 3/25 Fallen Heroes Mission has been established to help wounded Marines and to raise money for supplies for U.S. military hospitals in Iraq.

The effort was started by Cheryl Boomhower, 51, of Ravenna, mother of Sgt. Michael Boomhower, 26, a member of Akron Weapons Company.

The mission will primarily raise money to help the estimated 150 to 200 members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Marine Division who were wounded during its recent deployment in Iraq. The mission is named for Navy Corpsman Jeffrey L. Wiener, 31, of Louisville, Ky., who was attached to the 3/25 and was killed May 7, Boomhower said.

His mother, Diana Wiener of Louisville, Ky., said her son would be proud that such a mission was established in his name.

"Nothing will ever bring my son back,'' she said. But she said it is good that people will know his name through the fund.

Jeffrey Wiener worked for the Jefferson County, Ky., EMS before joining the Navy Reserve as a corpsman after Sept. 11, 2001. "Nine-eleven hit Jeffrey very hard,'' his mother said.

His two brothers are Marines. Sgt. Joshua Wiener's tour of duty was ending and Jeffrey's was beginning when they met up. Brother David left for Marine boot camp less than a month after his brother was killed.

According to an e-mail that battalion adjutant Capt. John Kasparian sent to 3/25 families in May, Jeffrey Wiener died in a firefight after a suicide bombing at a hospital. Three Marines also died in the incident. "The memory of their leadership, courage, and sacrifice live on in the Marines and sailors who served with them,'' Kasparian wrote.

Boomhower said the fund is geared to help the wounded, as Wiener did in Iraq.

The Akron unit, along with 3/25 units based in Brook Park, Columbus, Moundsville, W.Va., and Buffalo, N.Y., returned home last week. In the force of 1,000, an estimated 46 Marines and 2 Navy corpsmen died during the deployment.

Along with the effort to raise money for the wounded, Boomhower said she hopes to raise money for medical supplies to help U.S. military medical facilities in Iraq through a group known as Wounded Warriors at www.woundedwarriors.org.

She said she is working on getting tax-exempt status for her organization.

Send donations made out to 3/25 FHM to: 3/25 Fallen Heroes Mission, P.O. Box 325, Ravenna, OH 44266.

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Jim Carney can be reached at 330-996-3576 or jcarney@thebeaconjournal.com