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thedrifter
12-21-06, 07:43 PM
Band of Brothers: Michigan siblings serve together in Marines' battalion
BY JOHN MASSON AND JOE SWICKARD
Detroit Free Press

The tiny globes of tortilla dough line up as straight as Marines in the kitchen of Maria Ponce's modest home near Grand Rapids
The aroma of simmering spices and bubbling arroz con leche — rice pudding — permeates the house. So does the absence of Cpl. Hector Vargas, 25, and Lance Cpl. Guadalupe Ponce, 21. Maria Ponce's two sons are fighting in Iraq with the 1st Battalion of the 24th Marines, a Selfridge-based reserve unit that represents the largest deployment of Michigan Marines in the war.

Ponce and husband Jose Saldana are among at least a dozen sets of parents with more than one son among the battalion's 700 or so Michigan reservists.

"My younger son, he really likes flour tortillas, and when I make tortillas, I remember him," Ponce said earlier this month, squeezing another dough ball through a circle formed by her thumb and forefinger. "I feel very proud of my sons for being Marines, but ... it's hard to have them so far away."

In civilian life, Guadalupe Ponce is a junior studying criminal justice at Grand Valley State University. Vargas is the father of two children.

But now they join fellow Marines Phillip and Ryan Johnson, Curtis and Daryl Mejeur, Jonathon and Christopher Shell, Robert and Jack Blevins, Jacob and Joshua Layer, and Alan and Daniel Krukowski — among others — in the centuries-old tradition of American brothers who have marched off to war together.

Though it may come as a surprise to many, there's no official Defense Department policy prohibiting brothers from serving together in combat units, according to Pentagon spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton.

It hasn't always been so. When the five Sullivan brothers — hailing from Waterloo, Iowa — wanted to enlist in the Navy during World War II, they encountered regulations barring them from serving together. After finally being granted permission to serve together aboard the USS Juneau, all five perished when it was torpedoed and sunk during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

Historically, however, having brothers, cousins and neighbors fighting on the same battlefield was the American way. Units were bound together by geography and kinship long before they were bound together by esprit de corps.

"That had some advantages because of the camaraderie," said Jeffrey Charnley, a professor of American studies at Michigan State University. "The regiment system really worked, until the need for large, mass armies. The draft, or conscription, was the beginning of the end of that."

In the United States, the traditional regimental system was almost gone by World War I. But it has enjoyed a revival of sorts during the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, when a downsized full-time military has leaned heavily on state National Guard troops and reserve units that are organized geographically.

The results are uncomfortable for families left fretting at home.

Maria Ponce, 48, feels the sting. With two sons overseas and her husband working as a long-haul trucker, she worries that she, 11-year-old daughter Jacky and Guadalupe Ponce's fiancee, Sarah Vaas, will be left alone to deal with whatever bad news may come.

"I think if something happens, I'm here alone," Maria Ponce said.

On the other side of Grand Rapids, Gail Mejeur, whose sons also are deployed with Alpha Company, agreed.

"How do you talk about family time and not cry?" she said. "It is so hard."

While Mejeur and husband Norm Mejeur are mindful of the risks their sons are taking — Gail Mejeur said she spotted a strange car in her driveway recently and hesitated to go home for fear it was a Marine Corps officer bearing the worst possible news — they take comfort in knowing their boys are close to each other during a difficult time.

One such time came after Daryl Mejeur's Humvee was blown up by an improvised- explosive device. He suffered a concussion in the blast; no one else in the vehicle was hurt.

After it happened, Mejeur's parents were glad his brother was nearby for support.

"They are best friends," said Norm Mejeur, a driver for United Parcel Service. "They're so close, and we're so thankful for that. ... They've got someone to lean on over there."

Lance Cpl. Curtis Mejeur, a 21-year-old student at Grand Valley State University, couldn't have put it any better.

"We're probably the best friends" in Alpha Company, he said earlier this month of his brother Daryl, 25, a private first class who worked as a painter and real estate agent back home. Even though Curtis' duties keep him at the base and Daryl is assigned elsewhere, mutual buddies keep each posted on what the other is doing.

Both Mejeurs said the presence of so many relatives in Alpha Company gives the unit a special feeling during tough times. "There's a lot of family here," Daryl said.

And that helps ease the stress of combat, said Cpl. Hector Vargas. He said he gets unspoken reassurance because his younger brother, Lance Cpl. Guadalupe Ponce, is nearby.

"It feels good just knowing he's around here," said Vargas, who already had one overseas deployment and could have avoided coming to Iraq this time. Still, he said, he couldn't let his younger brother go by himself "and have all the good stories. Anyway, it's like having a little bit of home here."

That holds true for Ponce, as well, who had a rare chance to meet with his older brother recently.

"Mom, she's proud of us," he said. "Just worried, sometimes."

Pride and worry are common themes among Marine families, as is faith.

The Mejeurs draw on a strong spring of faith in dealing with their sons' deployment and draw closer to their two grown daughters, who live at home. Maria Ponce helps organize an annual celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe — for whom her son is named — at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Grand Rapids.

"I don't feel alone," she said. "The people know my sons are overseas ... and we pray for my sons."

The Krukowskis, of Midland, whose sons Cpl. Alan Krukowski, 22, and Lance Cpl. Daniel Krukowski, 19, also serve with the 24th Battalion, certainly feel pride and worry, as well.

"It is a little bit difficult, balancing the 'We're so proud of them' aspect with just the mom-type concerns and missing them," Linda Krukowski said.

The service was a career option James Krukowski encouraged for all his children, including Alan, and Daniel.

"We're concerned, but I don't think we're always worried that the dime is going to drop," James Krukowski said. "We're people of pretty strong faith. We have trust that whatever happens, they're going to get through it. ... But I've got my eyes open."

The Marines of the 24th Battalion have their eyes open for each other, as well — whether they share the same DNA or not.

"They're all brothers over there," said Norm Mejeur. "They're all brothers."


Ellie