| From Vincent Zecca 01/12/08:
To start this email off, I know that not everyone reading this knows who I am. So my name is Vinny Zecca. I basically used whatever emails that I have received in the past month or so to forward this email, so odds are that if you received this email we have mutual friends somewhere along the line.
With that said, I please ask that you read all of this email regardless of the length.
I am writing to you on behalf of the friends and family of James D. McNaughton, a New York City Police Officer who was killed in Iraq. On August 2nd, 2005, while training an Iraqi officer up in a tower, James or “Jimmy” as his friends knew him, was killed by a sniper. Jimmy was a staff sergeant with the Army Reserve’s 306th Military Police Battalion, based out of Uniondale, Long Island. Coming from a family of police officers, he joined the NYPD seven years ago as a member of the first Police Academy class to graduate after 9/11. James McNaughton, 27 was the first New York City Cop killed in the line of duty while serving in Iraq.
I have known Jimmy since we were 8 years old. He is one of my best friends and the most loyal person I have ever met. If you remember this story, I am sure you read all the newspapers saying how much he was dedicated to the country and how he had this in his blood. Well I am not one for the press and their stories because you never know what is truthful. However, this time they could not have been more precise. Jimmy lived for this country for as long as I can remember and he died defending the freedoms that we enjoy everyday.
I know most of the stories that have been written or told about Jimmy have said how great of a hero he was, but what sometimes goes unwritten was how great of a person and a friend too many of us he was as well. I could write a novel about Jimmy and how great of a friend he was and how he is a true hero and an inspiration.
The past 2 years, in his memory we held an extremely successful benefit/fundraiser event, in which a lot of you have attended and helped make it so successful. At this event, there has an assortment of entertainment such as music by a few local cover bands, The New York Shields Pipes and Drums, and the USO. There was also some comedy provided by Dave Attell and Nick DiPaolo. With the huge success of the previous years, this has become an annual event. Once again, this year, the event will take place at Mulcahy’s Pub and Music Hall in Wantagh, New York, on Saturday January 19th, 2008. This year we would obviously like to make it bigger and better. With that being said, I ask all of you as friends, family, and friends of friends to please help support this cause by doing any of the following:
1) Showing up on Saturday, January, 19th, 2008 at Mulcahy's
2) Sending some kind of donation if you can't make it
3) If anybody works for or knows anybody who can donate a gift bag or gift certificate, for our raffle/give-away, please contact me right away so I can set something up
We are currently in the works of planning all of the entertainment and festivities for this year. So far as the entertainment goes, we have a few local bands returning, as well as the USO and New York Shields, Pipes & Drums Band. Also comedian Nick DiPaolo will be coming back this year. For those of you who don’t know Nick, he is absolutely hysterical. He has appeared on The Howard Stern Show, The Comedy Central Roasts, and so on. There will be some more bands and comedians announced in the upcoming weeks.
At this time, I would like to extend this invitation to you and your family, friends, employees, etc. With an extremely large group of friends and family, there will also be a tremendous amount of police officers, military, troopers, etc. that will be on hand to honor Jimmy. If you are interested or have any questions, please contact me at
vzecca1(at)yahoo.com or at (631) 745-3813. I will be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
Proceeds from this benefit will be donated to The Wounded Warrior Project and The James McNaughton Foundation. The Wounded Warriors Project seeks to assist those men and women of our armed forces who have been severely injured during the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world. The James McNaughton Foundation helps provide scholarships to men and women who serve in the NYPD.
I will be sending out a few more emails about this event as new information comes about and as the date gets closer. Being that I do not know all of you, if you do not want me to continue sending emails about this to you, then please just respond to me and tell me so. I apologize to anyone in advance for any inconvenience. Your time just to read this letter is greatly appreciated.
As for everyone else, I urge you to please forward this along to everyone you know. Besides being for a great cause, it will be a great time. Again, if anybody knows anyone who can get door prizes through their company or somebody they know, that would be great; and if there is anyone who has any other connections to bands, djs, or any other type of entertainment, let me know, the more the better.
Attached in this email is a copy of the flyer for the event. Please feel free to distribute the flyer to as many people that you can.
Again, your time just to read this letter is greatly appreciated. I hope to hear from you soon. Below are a few links with some further background on James McNaughton, as well as some with photos from the first 2 years.
Sincerely,
Vinny Zecca
https://www.jimmymcnaughton.com/
https://www.nycpba.org/heroes/mcnaughton.html
https://www.jtfgtmo.southcom.mil/storyarchive/2007/07novstories/113007-1-mcnaughton.html
https://www.kodakgallery.com/ipa2delegate/main/1st_nypd_p_o_james_mcnaughton_killed_i
(2007 Benefit)
https://www.kodakgallery.com/ipa2delegate/main/nypd_p_o_james_d_mcnaughton_benefit_1st_nypd_polic
. (2006 Benefit)
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