A good friend of mine has organized a fundraiser for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.  The foundation provides college scholarship grants, along with financial aid and educational counseling, to the children of Special Operations personnel who were killed during an operational mission or training accident. Although the charity is relatively small, there are currently more than 700 children who will need assistance in the coming years. In 2007 alone, the foundation provided a free college education to 111 students across the country.

You can donate here and go here for additional information on the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.

Sadly, the night is dedicated to a friend of one of the organizers of the event.  Green Beret Staff Sergeant Joseph Curreri tragically died in a diving accident in October while deployed in the Philippines in the fight against global terrorism. He was only 27, and he left behind a wife of little more than one year. Although Joe did not have any children, he was a strong supporter of the SOWF and deeply believed in the foundation’s mission. Below is a portion of a Los Angeles Times article paying tribute to Joe’s life.

Excerpt From LA Times Article:

Born and reared in the suburbs of Baltimore, Curreri became a Civil War buff at an early age and a record-breaking swimmer. When he was 14, he swam across Chesapeake Bay and also founded the water polo team at his high school, the Jesuit-run Loyola Blakefield. Coaches from Harvard, Yale, Princeton and elsewhere urged him to join their swim teams, but he fell in love with USC on a recruiting trip, his mother said. “He was a dedicated Trojan,” she said. His Army buddies, some from competing colleges around the country, recounted how he would devilishly subject them to his singing of the USC fight song.

On the USC swim team, he was a member of a four-man relay team that took first place in the 800-meter freestyle at the U.S. Spring Nationals in 1999. He qualified for the 2000 U.S. Olympic Trials and was voted captain of the swim team for the first half of his senior year. “He was a great competitor and one of the more popular guys on the team,” said Mark Schubert, USC’s former head swim coach and now in charge of USA Swimming, the program that trains the U.S. Olympic team. “He was admired by everybody, with his work ethic and his spirit. He was always one of those guys who cared more about his teammates than he did about himself.” Curreri’s best friend at USC, two-time Olympic silver medalist Erik Vendt, described him this way: “I consider Joe to be the brother I never had. He was the most passionate, unbelievably loyal man I’ve ever met. Guys like him don’t come around very often.”

At 6 feet 1, heavily muscled, with blue eyes and sandy blond hair, Curreri was known for his unconstrained bear hugs for family and friends. His passion extended to matters of the mind and affairs of the heart. About 18 months ago, he married fellow USC graduate Athena Wickham, now an executive in a Los Angeles film production company. “For fun, he read history books and Russian literature,” his wife said. “That was his idea of a good time.” Curreri was planning to pursue a doctorate in history after completing his military service, with the aim of teaching U.S. history to the next generation. “I’m luckier than most people [to] have something like him in my life for the past 5 1/2 years,” his wife said. “I considered myself lucky to have been loved this much.”

The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks deeply affected Curreri while he was at USC, according to his friends and family.His longtime interest in war history and public service propelled him to attempt to join the Navy. He wanted to become a Navy SEAL, to make use of his skills as a waterman, but was rejected because of an old back injury from weightlifting in college. After graduating from USC in 2002, he worked briefly as a corporate recruiter and history tutor, and decided to appeal his medical disqualification. Curreri took his case directly to Army Surgeon General James Peake, who granted him a medical waiver, family members said.

Instead of opting for officer school, an option available as a university graduate, Curreri decided to enlist so he could work his way into the Army’s elite Special Forces. In an essay titled “Why I wish to become a Green Beret,” Curreri quoted President Kennedy about the few granted the role of defending freedom in the hour of maximum danger. “When my children ask me what I did to avenge the assault of September 11th, I shall be able to look them in the eye, without a hint of hesitation, and respond that I answered the call of our nation,” he wrote. Curreri joined the Army in 2004 and was assigned as a Special Forces communications sergeant with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Ft. Lewis, Wash.

He was part of a group helping to train Philippine government troops fighting Islamic militants in the nation’s southern islands and was due to return to the United States with his group Nov. 8.

This is a great cause and a great opportunity to support our men and women in uniform.