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thedrifter
04-02-06, 10:04 AM
A GOOD DAY TO BE A MARINE
Thousands pay tribute to veterans at Colts Neck High School
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/2/06
BY MARGARET F. BONAFIDE
TOMS RIVER BUREAU

COLTS NECK — About 3,000 people paid tribute to military service members of the past, present and future at the Colts Neck High School on Saturday.

A 38-member U.S. Marine Corps silent drill team performed with precision as they spun, twisted, flung and twirled their bayoneted rifles. And the Marine Corps Band played both solemn and lively patriotic music.

The program was hosted by the Freehold Regional High School District Navy ROTC Academy and was called "Service to America Day." The Reserve Officers' Training Corps program has 180 student members.

"I have wanted to be a Marine since I was 5 years old," said 19-year-old Russell Williams, of the Oakhurst section of Ocean Township, who was in the audience.

"I want to protect my country," said Williams, who reports May 22 to the Marines boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., "from anything that threatens it."

Also at Saturday's event was John Connor, 19, of Howell, who will report to Parris Island on July 15. He joined because he "wanted to stay out of trouble and to make my parents happy," he said.

"It is a tradition to serve in the military in my family, though I am the first Marine. Marines are the best."

The event was held to honor "our heroes who serve our community and our country and inspiring our youth about the price of freedom," according to the program brochure.

Kathy LoBue, 46, of Freehold, the mother of a high school Marine cadet, was selling posters for the ROTC club, hoping to help one of her three sons, Shawn, fulfill his dreams. The 16-year-old is a sophomore in the ROTC program that incorporates six regional high schools, LoBue said.

"Shawn is Marine-bound," she said. "His grandfather was a Marine and he feels it in his heart and in his soul."

She is grateful when people pay tribute to the military, she said.

As a parent of a child bound for military service "in this world, it is scary," LoBue said. "But if you don't do what your heart tells you to do," it leaves you unfulfilled.

Lt. Gen. James N. Mattis, commanding general of the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command in Quantico, Va., addressed the crowd, which was filled with veterans from past and current wars. Mattis said the invitation gave him a chance to pay tribute to youth and to the veterans. Keeping the freedoms that Americans enjoy requires fighting for them, he said.

"I am a realist," he said.

The youth of America "remains mankind's best hope," Mattis said. "If you don't believe it, look at the number of people trying to get out of America versus the number of people trying to get in."

"When it comes to the Marines, there is no better friend you can have and no worse enemy," Mattis said.

Lt. Col. Jim Sfayer, coordinator of the regional ROTC program, told the audience the military would never forget the sacrifices made by them and their loved ones.

Among the guests were Joan and Michael J. Curtin of Howell, parents of Army Cpl. Michael Edward Curtin, 23, of Howell, who died from a car bomb attack in Baghdad on March 29, 2003.

Ellie