All of our family members we help are special, but there was one who especially deserved our help. He was a young husband, a former Marine who had served three combat tours. He then joined the Army and served an additional combat tour. During his final combat tour, he was injured and was awaiting medical discharge. His wife was in boot camp in Cape May and knew he couldn’t afford to attend her graduation ceremony.
That’s when he came to us…he had been working to find a way to attend graduation and had been able to line up assistance through the USO for a hotel room but the flight to Cape May was out of his reach financially. He told us that she had stood by his side through all of his deployments and his long, slow recovery from his combat injury. Attending her graduation was something he would love to do for her. Presenting her certificate would be extra special.
The Fund sprung into action…not only did we secure his plane ticket, but made arrangements for him to present his wife her graduation certificate…keeping it a secret from her!
Just before he saw his wife at her graduation, he sent us this note…”I want to thank you all so much for what you have given me the opportunity to go and do!!! It means a lot to me and I am sure it is going to mean even more to my wife. I couldn’t imagine if no one from my family had attended my USMC graduation!!! We owe you all for giving us the memories that we are about to receive and keep forever!!!”