|
The $200
scholarship helped put Dworzak through Shippensburg (Pa.) University,
where he received a business degree. He now works at George McKelvey Co.,
an investment and financial company, in its Sea Girt office. He lives in
Howell with his wife and son.
When Dworzak received the scholarship, he was not expecting it. When he
went to collect the check from Walter Beattie that year, he did not spend
much time with David's father, a fact that he later regretted.
"I always regretted not thanking Mr. Beattie enough," Dworzak, 44, said.
"I picked up the check, but I should have sat down with him and thanked
him more and learned more about David."
When Dworzak's mother gathered together old photographs and
other mementos to give him at Christmas in 2004, the high school
graduation commencement program was there, and Dworzak's name was listed
as a Beattie scholarship winner.
That gift led him to track down David Beattie's sister, who told him that
the scholarship was no longer active.
"It was really very strange," Dale B. Pugliese, the sister who now lives
in Florida, said in a telephone interview. "When he (Dworzak) contacted
me, it touched me very much. He told me about how he was never able to
thank my father, and I know how he felt because nobody spoke about those
terrible wounds then."
Pugliese's parents are now both deceased.
Born on May 6, 1945, as World War II was ending, David Beattie grew up in
the Shark River Hills area, playing tennis, sailing and fishing off a pier
until 3 a.m. as a high school senior.
"David was the best big brother," Pugliese, 53, said. "When I was a little
kid, I can remember him meeting me when I walked home from school and
making sure no one was picking on me. He was just such a cool kid."
In 1965, David Beattie joined the Marines at age 17 — his parents had to
approve — and was sent to Vietnam during the early stages of the war.
After returning from his first tour of duty, he married. He returned to
Vietnam in 1966.
A few weeks later, Beattie, who was part of the Third Marine Division, was
killed during Operation Deckhouse IV/Prairie.
Dale Pugliese was 14 at the time.
Her brother's death would haunt the family for years. Coping in his own
way, her father established the scholarship, which continued until 1982,
Dworzak said.
Dworzak hopes that next year, the 40th anniversary of David Beattie's
death, he will have been able to re-establish the scholarship. Since the
beginning of the year, he has woked with schools officials to set up the
scholarship and with the Internal Revenue Service to make sure donations
from the community are tax deductable.
"In this case, you have two alumni of the school, one who gave his life in
the service of this country, and another, who was the recipient of the
scholarship, who wants to help perpetuate the gift of education," said
Neptune Schools Superintendent David Mooij.
Dworzak wants to see the school's hardest-working student, someone like
David Beattie, be the beneficiary of the scholarship. As it was
originally, the scholarship will be for $200, and Dworzak will fund that
himself for the first few years until more money rolls in.
"Right now, in my life, I'm making decent money," Dworzak said. "I wanted
to repay the community that helped me, and I want this scholarship to
reflect the kind of character that David had."
|
