Marine Private First Class Antonio Marcucci is from Boston. His family has a long history of serving. His Mom joined the Marines in 2001 in response to the attacks of 9/11. She met his dad who was serving at the time. He can be seen tearing down the Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad. Mom is still is a Marine serving at Warfare Schools Command in Newport, Rhode Island. His grandfather served in Vietnam and Great Grandparents served in WWII and the Korean War.
Antonio just received 30 day leave from Camp Lejeune in NC and was trying to figure out how he could get to Boston to visit his family for the holidays. That's where a Boston-based nonprofit named Miles for Military helped out. They point out in their mission statement that the junior warriors between E1 and E4 (about a half million people) struggle to get home for special events so they get donated miles to fly them home.
Next up for Antonio he's being transferred to the West Coast. His mom says “I know he’s getting ready to start his career and we’re not going to see him as often, so we’ll really enjoy this quality time with him for the next 30 days. It’s going to be fantastic,”