You can see more photos here.Posted on 01/08/2006 12:42:41 PM PST by Chieftain
On Oct 20, 2005 I was reading my Sgt Grit’s American Courage Newsletter #108 when I found a letter from a very determined young lady named April Cheek. (You can read her letter at the link, it's about the 10th letter in the newsletter).
Anyhow, I was genuinely touched by her determination and I wanted to let her know that, so I decided to write her. I only knew her first and last name from the newspaper, so I looked up the female recruit schedule and found that female recruits arriving Oct 10th would be in Papa Company. I sent my letter of support and promised her I would be her 'pen pal dad'. In the meantime my twin sons were preparing to go to boot camp, though they got set back 3 months due to strained quadriceps.
A few weeks later, I received my first letter from her! This old Marine was smiling from ear to ear as I read her response to my letter, though I did have to wipe my eyes a few times. I wrote her back and we began to exchange letters. Everyday when my wife called my office, I asked her, "Did we get a letter from April?” In my letters to April I would always include photos of my sons and wife in whatever activities our family had recently. I just tried to keep things upbeat and encouraging as well as let her know there was a family that cared and supported her, not a stalker or whatever.
I had told her early that I would come to her January 6 graduation, but time was getting short and I hadn't received anything from her for about 5 weeks. I was unsure if she was going to graduate, but searched everywhere on the net to find out. The only hope I had was the mother of another recruit in the same platoon. She told me in email that her daughter was going to call on Christmas and I asked her to ask her daughter about April.
Then during Christmas we had another poolee (a person who has joined the Marine Corps through the Delayed Entry Program (DEP)) and 'Grit Girl form grunt.com' come visit us from Pittsburgh, Stacy (JustStacy). Stacy took all charge of all our hearts.
The clock started ticking louder and louder as my sons' ship date (Jan 9th) loomed larger and larger. We were trying to spend every second we could together before they left. Stacy decided to come back and visit with us the weekend before they shipped, so we decided it would be a great preview of recruit graduation as well as Parris Island for Stacy, and motivation for our sons to see April Cheek's graduation, though we didn't know for sure she was graduating or not.
I asked my sons' recruiter if she could find out if April was graduating. She called Parris Island on Thursday night and confirmed April WAS GOING TO GRADUATE the next day!
WOW - we were EXCITED! We left Jacksonville, Florida at 6:00 AM Friday morning and arrived at a very COLD and WINDY Parris Island for recruit graduation. We carried signs with April's name and Platoon number so she could see us and if any family was there they would be able to approach us. Mind you, WE HAD NO IDEA of what April looked like! I walked around through the crowd holding the sign with her name as my family shivered in the bleachers. The mom of the other recruit told me she had talked with April on family day and told April that her 'pen pal dad' was coming and April was elated!
Soon a guy saw the sign and waved me to come over. He was April's dad!! I told him that I was her 'pen pal dad' and I had been writing her and he was surprised as she hadn't mentioned it in any letters. He said "You've been writing to MY daughter"? With the tone in his voice that a good dad would have when he finds out a 53 year old guy was writing HIS 19 year old daughter!! I just smiled and told him our whole family was there FOR his daughter's graduation. Soon he introduced April's mom and brother and uncles and cousins and the whole entourage of 15 family members and friends who had traveled from North Carolina! Counting the 5 of us, April had 20 people in the freezing cold for her graduation!
We all laughed and hugged and took photos after the platoons were dismissed.
It was a WONDERFUL DAY that I will NEVER FORGET as long as I live - thanks to Sgt Grit's American courage newletter and young lady with a TON OF COURAGE, PFC April Cheek.
Poolee Stacy and our twin sons, Louis and Norbie, were very motivated by the entire experience. We all got our tear ducts cleaned out really good! You can see more photos here.
Marine PING!!
Most folks don't understand how much Graduation Day means
to a young Marine and how much it means to be able to share
your accomplishment with the ones you love.
Good For you, it will be something they will never forget.
Thanks for YOUR service.
Tet68 USMC. 65-69
Oooorah! MARINES!
Vanity? This is New Warrior Breaking news ping. Ooooorah.
Congrats to our Newest Warrior!
For any non Marines out there, go here for an explanation of OOHRAH!
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/dickg/oohrah.html
Bless you for supporting them.
God Bless all our troops.
Awww, now you made me cry and smile at the same time.
Good catch!! I will give April a real good ribbing about that! I tell you, it was COLD out there Friday. I think the windchill was in the 20's!! Those brand new Marines stood at attention for the whole ceremony and I know they were like ice when they were dismissed, but bless their hearts, they were all smiles!
Oorah!!
Marine PING!
Semper Fidelis.
July, the perfect time of year, the sandfleas are in bloom.
I was there in 65.
Receiving was hell, then in the morning I got my first glimpse of a DI.
We went into mess where all these convicts were eating
"square" meals, when suddenly a DI jumped up on the table
and began kicking their trays in every direction and uttering a string of the most amazing profanity I'd ever heard.
I thought, as all do, "What the hell have I done????"
They take everything away from you, and make you, a Marine.
Semper Fi.
t.
Yep, they will remember it forever for sure! They finish receiving and get picked up by their DI's on Black Friday, and theirs will be FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH!!
Funny, though - more than a few of my compadres during my enlistment remembered absolutely nothing - nada, zip, nary a nary - of their first couple of days. Shock, I guess.
Me - I didn't forget one second!
Good god! Whose red head is that in the corner?
Your ongoing direct support of our troops, on such a personal level, serves as a shining example for all of us.
Your boys will be on my mind a lot tomorrow. Before they go, tell them one more time for me, "Thank you!" After tomorrow, you won't have any boys to tell it to. I realize they're men now, but not like they will be. Next time you see them, they will be 100% men. You've seen that enough times that you know what to expect, but when you actually see it happen with your own sons, then you'll really REALLY know, in whole new way. Thank you and Mrs. Chieftain for raising such fine men.
ping...
OohRah!
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