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Voice of the Times
From the Anchorage Times
(Published: November 20, 2002)
RECOGNIZING A BRAVE ...Young Marine
SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Erik Reams learned from watching war movies that the Marines have a reputation for being tough and unbeatable.
This summer he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. So one day, while traveling for radiation treatments at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Erik told his dad that if he had to die, he wanted to do so as a Marine. The boy and his family live in Anderson, a small community south of Fairbanks.
Erik's aunt, Kasandra Reams of Anchorage, called a Navy recruiter to ask if it might be possible to get the boy a Marine hat or toy. Erik's plight struck a chord with the recruiter and the Marines, so things began to happen.
On Oct. 27, Marine Sgt. Jason Salmi went to Anderson Elementary School, where Erik is a second-grader. With three Marine veterans in the audience, Sgt. Salmi presented Erik a certificate signed by the commandant of the Marine Corps and naming him an honorary Marine private, as well as letters from Sen. Ted Stevens and Gov.-elect Frank Murkowski. A letter from President Bush is in the works.
Salmi also gave young Erik a hat, dog tags, jump wings, a plaque bearing the image of a combat knife and the Marine emblem, and a blanket embroidered with the Marine symbol. The boy's uncle, Matt Reams of Soldotna, pinned a sharpshooter's medal on his chest. Erik, 4 feet tall, wore a size extra-small fatigue uniform for the occasion.
Semper Fi.
Voice of the Times
From the Anchorage Times
(Published: November 20, 2002)
RECOGNIZING A BRAVE ...Young Marine
SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Erik Reams learned from watching war movies that the Marines have a reputation for being tough and unbeatable.
This summer he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. So one day, while traveling for radiation treatments at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Erik told his dad that if he had to die, he wanted to do so as a Marine. The boy and his family live in Anderson, a small community south of Fairbanks.
Erik's aunt, Kasandra Reams of Anchorage, called a Navy recruiter to ask if it might be possible to get the boy a Marine hat or toy. Erik's plight struck a chord with the recruiter and the Marines, so things began to happen.
On Oct. 27, Marine Sgt. Jason Salmi went to Anderson Elementary School, where Erik is a second-grader. With three Marine veterans in the audience, Sgt. Salmi presented Erik a certificate signed by the commandant of the Marine Corps and naming him an honorary Marine private, as well as letters from Sen. Ted Stevens and Gov.-elect Frank Murkowski. A letter from President Bush is in the works.
Salmi also gave young Erik a hat, dog tags, jump wings, a plaque bearing the image of a combat knife and the Marine emblem, and a blanket embroidered with the Marine symbol. The boy's uncle, Matt Reams of Soldotna, pinned a sharpshooter's medal on his chest. Erik, 4 feet tall, wore a size extra-small fatigue uniform for the occasion.
Semper Fi.
