Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times

Marine’s belongings stolen from trailer

A Marine getting ready to be deployed to Iraq next week woke up in North Carolina on Monday morning to be told the bulk of his belongings had been stolen more than 400 miles away in a Talleyville parking lot.

A U-Haul containing the possessions of Marine Cpl. Robert Lamica, who is preparing to return to the Persian Gulf next week, was stolen when his father stopped for the night at the Quality Inn, 4000 Concord Pike, state police said. He was taking the trailer from Camp Lejeune, near Jacksonville, N.C., to Northampton, Mass., where Lamica and his wife, Brandy, eventually plan to move.

The stolen items — valued at about $10,000 — include Lamica’s service dress blues, ribbons, medals and even his Marine sword that was used to cut the couple’s wedding cake last February.

In addition to losing his belongings, Lamica also will lose some of the time remaining with his wife before he returns to Iraq.

“Spending our last week together having to take care of this wasn’t by any means ideal,” Lamica said when contacted Tuesday at Camp Lejeune. “We planned to pretty much just spend time with each other, relaxing and getting some good memories in before I go.”

Now, he said, his wife will have to devote time to tasks like canceling credit cards and getting new bank accounts.

They also will have to replace some of their belongings.

All they have left is a week’s worth of clothing for Brandy, an air mattress and the gear Lamica will wear when he’s deployed.

Lamica’s father, Michael, feels responsible.

“I feel like I let them down,” the father said.

The couple disagree.

“He did everything right,” the younger Lamica said. “No one blames him but himself.”

The phone woke Robert Lamica and his wife at about 4:30 a.m. Monday.

“We lost everything,” Michael Lamica said then. “We lost everything.”

Michael and his wife, Shirley, had driven from Massachusetts to North Carolina on Friday to help their son and daughter-in-law pack. The elder Lamicas were moving the newlyweds’ possessions to Massachusetts, where Brandy is planning to stay while her husband is overseas.

Robert Lamica’s parents spent Saturday packing a standard 6-by-12-foot U-Haul box trailer. They hitched it to his white 2001 Dodge Ram pickup and headed north Sunday, leaving the younger couple to spend their last days together in North Carolina.

As he had done on previous trips from North Carolina, the older Lamica stopped for the night near Wilmington. He parked under a street light in the motel parking lot and turned in for the night at about 8:30 p.m.

Shirley Lamica got up at about 3:45 a.m. Monday to get toiletries from the Dodge.

“She came running back in and asked me if I moved the truck,” the elder Lamica said. “I jumped out of bed.”

Michael Lamica said he looked around the motel to see if the truck was somewhere else.

It wasn’t.

“I was totally freaking out,” said Michael Lamica, whose stress medicine also was stolen.

While his wife called police, Michael Lamica called his son.

Brandy picked up the phone and thought her in-laws had been in an accident.

“We knew something was wrong, especially when we heard my dad’s tone. He was pretty much hysterical,” Robert Lamica said. “He was crying because he knew how hard we worked for everything.”

The father proceeded to tell them the truck had been stolen.

“Every time we had a little bit of money, we’ve been buying a piece of furniture — stuff that we will put in our house when we build it,” Robert Lamica said. “We can’t get it back now.”

After hearing about the theft, police began checking the registrations of other vehicles in the lot, said Cpl. Jeff Whitmarsh, a state police spokesman.

A white Ford Econoline van was found in the space next to where Michael Lamica’s pickup was parked.

The van was reported stolen Friday from Chimes Inc., on Interchange Boulevard in Newark.

Police said security video captured a few frames of the van pulling up next to the truck, but not enough to see who was in it.

They continue to investigate.

Robert Lamica plans to talk to his Marine supervisors today to see if he can replace some of the uniforms and gear without having to pay the approximate $1,500 they were worth.

But that is unlikely, according to Capt. Carl B. Redding, a Marine spokesman stationed at the Pentagon.

“The Marine Corps does not provide coverage for personal property even during a self-move,” Redding said. “It is the Marine’s responsibility to insure their items.”

The elder Lamica’s insurance also won’t pay.

“I talked to the insurance company, and they are not going to cover their stuff,” Michael Lamica said. “And my insurance won’t because it wasn’t mine and it was in the U-Haul.”

Redding said the Marines will offer Lamica and his family help in getting through this difficult time.

“The Marine Corps Community Services can assist by providing counseling from the Family Readiness Officers and the Key Volunteer Network,” he said. “Those individuals can help through donations or loans to replace some of the items missing.”

A number of community organizations also can provide low-interest loans while the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society can provide a no-interest loan if Lamica qualifies, Redding said.

“I can’t say if the thief knew the vehicle was that of a Marine, so all I can say is any time a Marine loses their personal items to theft, fire, flood or any other means not controlled by them, it is sad and our hearts go out to the families,” Redding added.

Robert Lamica is happy that his family will comfort his wife while he’s away. But the property loss is hard to take.

“Honestly, the personal memorabilia. The pictures. ... Those are the things that hurt the most,” he said. “I don’t deserve it.”