1 • Thursday, May 22, 2025 - The Elmhurst Independent
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VOL. 23• NO. 23
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THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2025
Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and two-time Purple Heart recipient named Grand Marshal for Elmhurst’s 2025 Memorial Day Parade He was injured in JanParade will begin 2006. uary 2007, while on patrol, his Humvee was hit at York and Third when by seven large EFP (ExploFormed Penetrator) at 9:30 a.m. on sively bombs, which are designed penetrate armor. DuzMonday, May 26 to inskas was in the Humvee’s
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gunner turret, and three of his fellow soldiers were inside the vehicle. The driver and one dismount were killed instantly in the explosion. Duzinskas was transported by ground to a forward operating base, where he received emergency care to stabilize him for the chopper transport to Baghdad, then transported to a combat hospital in Balad, Iraq. He was then flown to Germany. From Germany, Duzinskas was flown to the United States. Duzinskas’s injuries were severe. His left arm was completely severed, and he sustained multiple shrapnel wounds to his entire left side. His left lung was punctured cut in half and collapsed. He has had more than 50 surgeries to reconstruct the arm, perform tendon transfers, skin graphs, bone fusions, etc., and is progressing well. His most recent surgery fused the remaining radius with the ulna in his left forearm. With all the hard work and excellent
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Home & auto. Home & Bundle auto. & save. Bundle & save. & auto. HomeHome & auto. Bundle & save. Bundle & save. Bensenville resident Richard Duzinskas will serve as the Grand Marshal of Elmhurst’s 2025 Memorial Day Parade, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. on Monday, May 26. Duzinskas, a United States Army veteran, served two deployments in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was awarded a Purple Heart for his actions in combat in December 2006. Duzinskas was awarded another Purple Heart after he was seriously injured in January 2007, when his Humvee was hit by seven large bombs. Duzinskas is pictured with his 13-year-old son, Dominick.
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Richard Duzinskas of Bensenville will be the Grand Marshal of Elmhurst’s 2025 Memorial Day Parade. A two-time Purple Heart recipient, Duzinskas served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Duzinskas, who served in the United States Army, is pictured (right) in 2007, as he was awarded his second Purple Heart from General Peter Schoomaker (left), the 35th Chief of Staff of the Army.
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The Grand Marshal for Elmhurst’s 107th Memorial Day Parade, which will take place on Monday, May 26, is Bensenville resident Richard Duzinskas, an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran and a two-time Purple Heart recipient. Raised on the south side of Chicago, Duzinskas participated in an early enlistment program offered by the United States Army, enrolling in the summer of 2002, just before his senior year at Walther Lutheran High School in Melrose Park. One month after graduating from high school in 2003, Duzinskas left for Fort Knox, Kentucky, to begin his basic training and advanced individual training (AIT). After graduating from AIT at Fort Knox in December 2003, Duzinskas was assigned to Camp Hovey in South Korea, where he served until his first deployment to Iraq in July 2004. Duzinskas returned from his first deployment to Iraq in August 2005, to Fort Carson, Colorado, where he served until his second deployment to Iraq in early