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Wounded Marine Comes Home To Renovated House

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- Neighbors, friends, and fellow Marines gathered en masse, for a Friday surprise in Cranberry Township.

They had just completed work on a massive remodeling effort on the home of a wounded Marine veteran. He and his family were about to return from vacation.

Josh Caskey has traumatic brain injury from wounds suffered in Iraq. His brother was killed in Afghanistan. For neighbors and friends, it was time to give back.

"This play set was donated by Hartland Play Systems," says project manager Todd Klippa, on the back patio. "They installed it yesterday morning along with the fence the wall and all the landscaping."

He says Caskey knows something's going on.

"He thinks we're doing some minor repairs on the house, and updating a few things but nothing this large. Pretty much replaced everything. So it grew and grew and grew as the week went on."

Jerry Caskey says his son and family will be amazed. "It's mind boggling. It's well beyond anything they ever imagined. They're going to be shocked out of their minds."

A limousine bearing the family of six arrives to a warm reception. Joyful exclamations of surprise can be heard when the parents and four children first glimpse their "new" home.

"This just means the world to me," Josh Caskey tells the crowd. "Everybody looks great. Everybody looks sharp. And the house looks damn great. It does. It really does."

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