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Thursday, April 22, 2004
Future held promise for slain soldier
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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Christopher D. Gelineau was one semester away from earning his college degree and starting a promising career and a new life with his wife, a fellow student at the University of Southern Maine. But his strong sense of responsibility would first lead the bright 23-year-old student to Iraq, where he was fatally wounded Tuesday morning in an ambush on a military convoy in Mosul. Gelineau was a specialist in the 133rd Engineer Battalion of the Maine Army National Guard. He was riding in the first of four Humvees on the western edge of the city when an explosive device detonated in the center of the road and anti-American insurgents opened fire on his convoy. The explosion killed Gelineau. Four others, three from Maine and one from a South Carolina unit attached to the 133rd, were injured in the attack. Gelineau's death has devastated his young wife and his parents, who lost their only child, an uncle said. Relatives gathered at his Portland apartment Wednesday, while members of other military families offered support and directed all questions about Gelineau to the Maine National Guard. The loss also stunned the USM community, both on the Gorham campus, where Gelineau was well-liked and admired, and on the Portland campus, where his wife is a student in the business school. And it shook Maine's Guard community, which is beginning to plan the first memorial for one of its members since the war began. "It's certainly something that we've been dreading all along," said Maj. Peter Rogers, spokesman for the Maine Army National Guard. Gelineau grew up around Burlington, Vt., and his parents, John Gelineau and Victoria Chicoine, still live there, said Gelineau's uncle, Tyler Andersen of Florence, S.C. Andersen said Gelineau was always a good, level-headed kid with a desire to pull his own weight. He worked in high school delivering pizzas, and later worked driving trucks and in a warehouse for a food service company in Burlington, Andersen said. Gelineau's grandfather fought in World War II and his stepfather, Jesse Chicoine, served in the Air Force in the Gulf War, said Andersen, himself a Vietnam-era veteran. Gelineau joined the Army National Guard in Vermont after graduating from Mount Abraham Union High in Bristol. The Guard was his way of paying his way through college, Andersen said. "That kid worked for everything he had. He accepted no handouts," Andersen said. He transferred to the 133rd when he moved to Maine to enroll at USM four years ago. At first, he lived on the Gorham campus, where he made friends and earned honor-roll grades in USM's School of Applied Science, Technology and Engineering. At USM, he also met and fell in love with Lavinia, a Romanian national and a business school student. They were married in a small family ceremony at his father's house in Vermont in April 2002, his uncle said. "They were each other's life," Andersen said. "They were each other's best friend. Chris is so happy and Lavinia is so happy. It's like they were just meant to be." Gelineau was called up to active duty in November. He told his family he had a job to do, and downplayed the danger. "He was proud to go. He was concerned about going like everybody would be. He was concerned about his wife, but he was trying to maintain his strength," Andersen said. "He knew the risks involved, but whether he agreed with the politics or not, he was just going to do his job - like he always has." Lavinia Gelineau clung to her boyish-looking husband in January before the 133rd boarded a bus in Gardiner to go to Fort Drum, N.Y., for training. She told a writer for the Kennebec Journal at the time: "I don't believe he's actually going. It hasn't sunk in." She would later tell friends at USM that she constantly feared harm would come to her husband. Gelineau had one more semester before earning his degree in information technology communication and beginning what professors expected would be a promising career as a manager in the IT field. "He was an excellent student," said Robert W. Nannay, a USM associate professor of technology. Nannay said Gelineau learned that his unit would go to Iraq shortly before the end of last semester. "In late October or early November, he came up to me after class and was kind of apologetic and said his unit had been called up and he would be sent to Iraq. He was all concerned about the term paper," Nannay said. "I told him he shouldn't worry about making all the classes and finishing the term paper because he needed to spend time with his family." Gelineau came to classes anyway, and he turned in his paper before he left, and before it was due. "It was an outstanding paper," Nannay said. Gelineau even came to class just before shipping out, and was given an emotional farewell. "With about five minutes left in the class, I asked him to stand. I announced to everyone that Chris' unit was called up," Nannay said. "There was this thunderous standing ovation by his peers." Nannay and other professors learned of Gelineau's death Wednesday afternoon, then passed the news to some of his friends and fellow students, who were stunned. "Students were very disturbed to learn this, as are all of us," Nannay said. "The war is thousands of miles away and we read about it and we see it on the news, but it really hits home." Staff Writer John Richardson can be contacted at 791- 6324 or at: jrichardson@pressherald.com
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Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram journalists