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Bronze Star awarded to Stony Brook seaman
'Meritorious' Iraq service cited, reunites with younger sibling in Middle East, has military heritage
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| | | By Jennifer Choi | | |
September 24, 2008 | 02:10 PM
John Bellissimo of Stony Brook has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal, the fourth highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Bellissimo, 36, has maintained a commission in the U.S. Navy Reserve since graduating in 1994 from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, where he received an unlimited third mate's license. Currently the Multi-National Force — Iraq program manager for the rehabilitation and commercial development of the port of Umm Qasr, Iraq, Bellissimo was awarded the medal Sept. 14 for his "overall meritorious service in a combat zone," according to his mother. Caroline McNamara of Stony Brook.
"The Bronze Star Medal is a significant honor and personal accomplishment, a once-in-a-lifetime event," Bellissimo said via email this week. A "legacy of military service" within his family inspired him to join the Navy, he wrote, including both of his grandfathers and several great uncles who served in World War II; and his father, Paul Bellissimo, a former U.S. Air Force pararescueman.
"I had a strong military sphere of influence growing up, which led me to this path," said Bellissimo, a 1990 Ward Melville High School graduate who worked closely with Gen. David Petraeus, former commanding general, Multi-National Force — Iraq, and scheduled to become the next commander of U.S. Central Command (CentCom) starting Oct. 31.
Just as this "sphere of influence" led him to the Navy Reserve, it was "fate" that brought him together overseas with his half-brother, Andrew McNamara, Bellissimo said. McNamara, 22, is currently traveling aboard the merchant ship Alliance New York after graduating in May from Fort Schuyler, the SUNY Maritime College. He reunited with his older brother when Bellissimo boarded the Alliance in Kuwait and observed transit until the next port of call.
"Meeting John in Kuwait was, for lack of a better word, awesome," McNamara said in an email. "Both of us had been away from home for a while, and homesick, and it was really good to see a familiar face on the other side of the world. … And it made me feel really good for my brother, who was more or less my mentor, to see me in action doing what I had been trained for."
McNamara, a 2004 graduate of Ward Melville High School, said he chose this line of work because of his brother, who "set a really good example for me growing up." Hearing about Bellissimo receiving the Bronze Star was no surprise to him, McNamara wrote, because it only reaffirms what he knows to be true: "John is a great human being."
"This is a big award to receive, and he definitely deserves it," McNamara added. "I am very proud to call him my brother."
Both McNamara and Bellissimo, who is also a director of Wachovia Capital Markets, will return to the United States early next month.
"Both boys chose difficult, challenging schools," said mom Caroline McNamara. "I clearly remember dropping them off for 'indoc' for their first taste of regimental life. … Early this October, both John and Andrew will be home from their adventures, and this mother couldn't be happier."
Caroline McNamara, a nurse practitioner for 14 years, said she is "in awe" of her son's Bronze Star Medal. "John has a quiet strength," she said. "He is tenacious, goal driven, dedicated and intelligent."
"This is amazing," said dad Tim McNamara. "We're very proud of both of them.
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