MoreTwo long-time friends and surveying business partners receive an award for their achievements and dedication.
September 12, 2008
JOLIET -- Terrence Ruettiger was excited when he saw the words "Joliet Arsenal" stamped on a box of TNT that had been shipped to Vietnam.
It was the late 1960s, and Ruettiger was serving in an Army unit that needed the TNT to blow up a concrete bunker.
"I have a friend who probably made that," Ruettiger boasted, referring to former classmate Dennis Tonelli, who was back home serving as a TNT line supervisor at the arsenal. The two men grew up in the Ingalls Park neighborhood, and they attended grade school and Joliet Catholic High School together.
But when Ruettiger's fellow soldiers attempted to light the TNT, "It went poof. It didn't blow up," he recalled.
Ruettiger, who received a Purple Heart in the war, said he didn't hold the TNT dud against Tonelli. Their longtime friendship sparked a dynamic business relationship after the war. Ruettiger and Tonelli and Associates Inc. has been in business since 1979. The company offers land surveying, engineering, planning and landscape architect services to clients.
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