Gennaro Pellegrini, Jr was 31 years old, a Philadelhia cop and
an up and coming boxer. He died yesterday far away
from home fighting in a war he was against.
He was just two weeks away from finishing up his six-year
stint in the Guard when he was told that his tour of duty was
being extended and that he would serve in Iraq for at least a
year, maybe longer. The news could not have come at a worse time
for Pellegrini. He was training for his first pro fight, newly
engaged to be married, and settling into his job as a
Philadelphia police officer, just like his dad.
Instead, he was ordered by his government to fight a war
that he did not believe in. He told us that the conflict in Iraq
was "a so-called war" and that he saw U.S. troops as
caught in an impossible situation.