Mother of Sgt. Allessandro Carbonaro, Gilda joined Military Families Speak Out in the spring of 2004 and began working to bring the troops home. Her son died May 10, 2006, at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany, from wounds received while conducting combat operations in Al Anbar province, Iraq, on May 1, 2006. He was assigned to the 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was 28 years of age and left a wife, also named Gilda.