BY DAVE CHOATE

Denise Herman and Ashley Gelinas had lost a dear friend.

Herman was the mother of an Army reserve member who was friends with Daniel Gionet, while Gelinas was his oldest friend. When Sgt. Gionet of Pelham died in Iraq last June, he left friends like Herman and Gelinas grieving with their memories.

“I don’t know anyone who met him that didn’t say ‘Gee, what a great guy,’” Herman said.

It was the lasting impression Gionet left which inspired the two women of Goffstown to turn their grief into tributes for the fallen soldier. Between Herman’s song and Gelinas’ planned book, they are honoring their friend through their memories.

Tour of duty

Gionet had already finished one tour in Afghanistan as a military chef when he decided to re-enlist as a medic. Although his passion was cooking, Herman said he was determined to do more.

Her last conversation with Gionet was at Herman’s house, a meal shared between her son and her young friend. During that conversation, Gionet talked about his devotion to the military in a way that would later inspire her to write a tribute song.

“He became a medic because he loved to take care of people. He felt better about himself, doing that, and you could see the passion in his eyes when he talked about helping his fellow soldiers,” Herman said.

Gelinas smiled as she remembered what Gionet told her about his switch.

“He said he was sick of peeling potatoes at 2 o’clock in the morning,” she said.

Gionet was one of four members of a tank crew that hit an improvised explosive device in Tahjir, just outside of Baghdad. Though he was mortally wounded by the explosion, Gelinas said Gionet directed medics to his tankmates first.

He passed away on June 4, 2006, having sent his last card home the day before. Inside, Gelinas said Gionet had assured his family that he was now safer as a member of the tank crew.

Making music

It was only a week after Gionet passed away that Herman said she began work on “Cut and Run (I’ll Fight For Freedom),” a song based on her last conversation with Gionet. She had her song demo written and sent to a producer in Nashville, Tenn., when tragedy struck again.

Herman said she had just set a picture of Gionet as the screensaver on her computer before she fell asleep in February 2007. She awoke suddenly at 2 a.m. to find her house ablaze with no fire alarms sounding.

She said fire inspectors later determined the cause of the blaze was a problem in the chimney, which caused soot to burn through the mortar, igniting her house. Herman lost her parakeets and pet cat, as well as her original song demo and picture of Gionet.

Living on a trailer in front of the burned-out shell of her home, Herman pressed on. Now she said she has a professionally recorded demo tape to give away, alongside T-shirts which let families and friends iron on a picture of a soldier abroad. All proceeds will go to combat veterans. Gelinas intends to do something similar with the funds from her book, which she is writing with the help of letters and anecdotes from soldiers and friends of Gionet. His friend since birth, Gelinas said the best tribute she could thing of was to capture all the moments of Gionet’s life, not just his military career.

“A lot of it is just making sure we get the letters from everyone who knew him. There are a lot of memories,” she said.

Lessons learned

Sitting together on the couch of the quiet trailer Herman now calls home, the two reflected on the last year.

“In my life, I’ve had to overcome so many obstacles. The best you can do is just live every day, and take the lessons you learn,” Herman said. “You do your wallowing, and you mourn, and you grieve, but you’re still here and you can still do things – for yourself and for others.”

Gelinas said she is still gathering material for her book, but that she hopes to help out Gionet’s mother with projects such as the revamping of the veteran’s park in Pelham. She said her childhood friend would appreciate people being helped in his memory.

“We both made a promise to the other to take care of the other’s family. I don’t want to forget about everyone else, because Dan would never forget about anyone.”