Antioch event raises funds for badly wounded Marine

Some of Cpl. John Peck's best friends are people he has never met.

The U.S. Marine, recovering from a devastating explosion in Afghanistan, received a rousing show of support Saturday in his hometown of Antioch.

Four bands, food, drink and raffles featured at the Antioch band shell were drawing crowds of people who were contributing at least $5 to help care for the wounded 2004 graduate of Antioch High School.

"I have never met the boy and didn't know his parents before all this started," said Village Trustee Dennis Crosby, who played a large role in getting it started.

"But the response to this has been so overwhelming, it touches you," Crosby said. "This is the American spirit in bloom."

After Peck was taken to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland to be treated for the wounds that cost him all four limbs and have seen him undergo 11 surgeries, his family needed to raise funds to go out to see him.

"I got a call from a lawyer in Waukegan who knew the family and said we needed to get $1,000 together so these people could get out to see their kid," Crosby said. "I asked other village elected officials and our staff, and we had the $1,000 in about two hours."

Inspired, Crosby said he decided to send an e-mail about the situation to his friends and family and that touched off an avalanche of love.

"The people who got the e-mail from me started calling, and they started sending the e-mail to other people," he said. "Before I knew it, I was getting calls from California, Alabama and New York from people who wanted to help." Local businessman Mike Babciz also got involved in the effort to support Peck and was one of the people who set up the Cpl. John Peck fund at the State Bank of the Lakes in Antioch.

"People ask about the fund and wonder if he won't get support from the military, and we tell them of course he will," Babciz said. "But he is going to have a lot of needs and the military can only do so much, so we look at what we are doing as a supplemental insurance policy."

Babciz told the crowd Saturday that he had received a text message from Peck, who has recovered sufficiently that he is able to speak and communicate in other ways.

"I am doing pretty good today, very much better," Babciz repeated. "I so very much wish I could have been there today, but due to circumstances it could not be. Thank you all very much."

Local Moose and VFW organizations also rallied around the cause and Babciz said the Marines lived up to their reputation of taking care of their own.

"We were still in the process of setting up this morning when two gentlemen from the Marine Corps Reserve in Waukegan walked up," Babciz said. "They handed me an envelope with a very substantial donation, wished us the best and left. I was awe-struck."

Larry Green from Lake Villa said he has no connection to Peck or his family and never served in the military, but nonetheless rolled into the crowd just after the festivities began.

"I saw something in the paper about this some time back and just made a note of it," Green said. "I just thought that with everything that man has been through, it was the least I could do to come out here and give some of what I have."