the 3,516 recipients displayed a deep love of country and extraordinary measures of courage, integrity and sacrifice. Only 65 medal recipients are alive today. We are deeply honored to welcome one of them to Cantigny.
A 1st Infantry Division veteran, Bellavia enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1999 and chose to stay and fight following the Sept. 11 terror attacks in 2001. He served three military campaigns: Kosovo 2003 and Operation Iraqi Freedom I and Operation Iraqi Freedom II. His sense of duty was inspired by his World War II veteran grandfather, who served in the Army during the Normandy Campaign.
Bellavia retired from the Army in 2005, returning home to Western New York and founding Vets for Freedom, an advocacy organization. In 2019, he founded Deuce Deuce Relief Fund, which supports the soldiers of his former Task Force 2-2 in Iraq.
Bellavia traveled to Iraq as an embedded reporter covering heavy fighting in 2006 and 2008, and in 2007 wrote “House to House,” a book detailing his experiences in Fallujah that is considered one of the best first-hand military accounts ever written. He wrote a second book in 2022, “Remember the Ramrods: An Army Brotherhood in War and Peace.”
Bellavia’s awards and decorations include the Bronze Star, the National Defense Service Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal with Bronze Service Star, New York State Conspicuous Service Cross, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the NATO Medal. He was inducted into the New York State Veterans Hall of Fame in 2005.
Today, Bellavia travels the country as a speaker, sharing the important message of service over self. He is a sought-after source for national media.
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About the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park
The First Division Museum, part of the Chicago-based Robert R. McCormick Foundation and located at Cantigny Park in Wheaton, Illinois, promotes public learning about America’s military heritage and affairs through the history of the “Big Red One”—the famed 1st Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. The museum’s main exhibit hall, First in War, transports visitors to the trenches of World War I, the beaches of World War II, and the jungles of Vietnam. A second exhibit hall, Duty First, explores the 1ID’s history in more recent times. The Robert R. McCormick Research Center, open to the public, houses the museum’s library, archival and photo collections. Tanks from every era are outside the museum, along with artillery pieces and a personnel carrier. Memorial markers and commemorative statuary pay further tribute to those who served. For more information, visit FDMuseum.org.