Shaffer
11-13-02, 08:23 AM
Erik Reams, 7, may be the youngest person ever to become an official honorary Marine.
How does a 4-foot-high boy stand tall in the camouflages of the mainline forces? Quite proudly, considering his tremendous courage in the face of adversity.
Erik, the son of LuAnn and Micah Reams, lives in Anderson, a small community south of Fairbanks. He was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor this summer and completed radiation treatments at Children's Hospital in Seattle. While en route to one of his appointments, he told his father that if he had to die, he wanted to do so as a Marine.
"My heart sunk a little bit," his father said. "My patriotic pride in my country and my son just swelled like you wouldn't believe."
Soon after Erik made his request, his father told family members. Erik's aunt, Kasandra Reams of Anchorage, called a friend who is a Navy recruiter to ask if they could get him a Marine hat or toy. The situation snowballed beyond the family's imagination.
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/2121316p-2217692c.html
How does a 4-foot-high boy stand tall in the camouflages of the mainline forces? Quite proudly, considering his tremendous courage in the face of adversity.
Erik, the son of LuAnn and Micah Reams, lives in Anderson, a small community south of Fairbanks. He was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain tumor this summer and completed radiation treatments at Children's Hospital in Seattle. While en route to one of his appointments, he told his father that if he had to die, he wanted to do so as a Marine.
"My heart sunk a little bit," his father said. "My patriotic pride in my country and my son just swelled like you wouldn't believe."
Soon after Erik made his request, his father told family members. Erik's aunt, Kasandra Reams of Anchorage, called a friend who is a Navy recruiter to ask if they could get him a Marine hat or toy. The situation snowballed beyond the family's imagination.
http://www.adn.com/alaska/story/2121316p-2217692c.html