thedrifter
01-18-07, 04:05 PM
Gowen 10-year-old gets young start with Marines
By Lori Hansen - Daily News correspondent
GOWEN — After seeing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Conner Wyckoff decided he wanted to do something to help protect his country.
Five years later, and now just 10, Wyckoff is learning how. The son of Tim and Bev Wyckoff of Gowen is a member of the Kent County Young Marines program.
“The collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001 had a huge impact on Conner,” said Bev, noting that her son was just 5 at the time. “He was at his grandma’s house when the Twin Towers collapsed. She had the news on and he watched it on television. Instead of being traumatized, he wanted to take action.
“He kept saying he wanted to find (Osama) bin Laden,” she said. “Later I ran across a newspaper clipping I had saved that Maranda (from WOOD-TV) had written about the Kent County Young Marines program.”
The article said the program was for boys age 8 through high school. Conner was 8 at the time. Even though he was involved in soccer, baseball and Cub Scouts, Wyckoff still talked about the military.
He joined the Young Marines in the fall of 2005, meeting 21/2 hours each Tuesday night for 13 weeks in Grand Rapids. Wyckoff graduated in June from boot camp as a Pfc. honor recruit and was chosen by his peers as platoon leader.
“I like the discipline where we all work together,” he said.
Wyckoff took time off last fall, called inactive duty, but will rejoin the Young Marines later this month, according to his father.
“The program includes mental, moral and physical drills and has an emphasis on character building, leadership building and living a healthy lifestyle,” said Robin Walter, principal at Lincoln Heights Elementary School in Greenville, where Wyckoff is a fourth-grader.
Walter said he’s the only Greenville-area student in the Young Marines program.
“Conner talks about the Young Marines at school,” she said. “It has helped build his confidence. He is a conscientious student who cares about his country and has followed through to develop democratic beliefs and values as he becomes an active citizen.”
Not only do the youngsters receive military haircuts and learn military protocol such as marching and saluting, but they also have uniforms that they learn to fold when to wear them.
“If he decides to continue on through high school and join the Marines, he will have first choice at what location and job to have before any new recruits,” Bev said. “It really makes you proud to see these 16- or 17-year-old young men graduating from the program and ready and willing to fight for our country. It is their calling.”
Wyckoff enjoys the Young Marines but isn’t altogether certain when he’ll take the next step up to the Marine Corps.
“I might want to play pro football for a couple of years and then go into the military,” he said. “If the Iraq war is still going on I’ll probably go there.”
Correspondent Lori Hansen is a Greenville-area resident.
Ellie
By Lori Hansen - Daily News correspondent
GOWEN — After seeing the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Conner Wyckoff decided he wanted to do something to help protect his country.
Five years later, and now just 10, Wyckoff is learning how. The son of Tim and Bev Wyckoff of Gowen is a member of the Kent County Young Marines program.
“The collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001 had a huge impact on Conner,” said Bev, noting that her son was just 5 at the time. “He was at his grandma’s house when the Twin Towers collapsed. She had the news on and he watched it on television. Instead of being traumatized, he wanted to take action.
“He kept saying he wanted to find (Osama) bin Laden,” she said. “Later I ran across a newspaper clipping I had saved that Maranda (from WOOD-TV) had written about the Kent County Young Marines program.”
The article said the program was for boys age 8 through high school. Conner was 8 at the time. Even though he was involved in soccer, baseball and Cub Scouts, Wyckoff still talked about the military.
He joined the Young Marines in the fall of 2005, meeting 21/2 hours each Tuesday night for 13 weeks in Grand Rapids. Wyckoff graduated in June from boot camp as a Pfc. honor recruit and was chosen by his peers as platoon leader.
“I like the discipline where we all work together,” he said.
Wyckoff took time off last fall, called inactive duty, but will rejoin the Young Marines later this month, according to his father.
“The program includes mental, moral and physical drills and has an emphasis on character building, leadership building and living a healthy lifestyle,” said Robin Walter, principal at Lincoln Heights Elementary School in Greenville, where Wyckoff is a fourth-grader.
Walter said he’s the only Greenville-area student in the Young Marines program.
“Conner talks about the Young Marines at school,” she said. “It has helped build his confidence. He is a conscientious student who cares about his country and has followed through to develop democratic beliefs and values as he becomes an active citizen.”
Not only do the youngsters receive military haircuts and learn military protocol such as marching and saluting, but they also have uniforms that they learn to fold when to wear them.
“If he decides to continue on through high school and join the Marines, he will have first choice at what location and job to have before any new recruits,” Bev said. “It really makes you proud to see these 16- or 17-year-old young men graduating from the program and ready and willing to fight for our country. It is their calling.”
Wyckoff enjoys the Young Marines but isn’t altogether certain when he’ll take the next step up to the Marine Corps.
“I might want to play pro football for a couple of years and then go into the military,” he said. “If the Iraq war is still going on I’ll probably go there.”
Correspondent Lori Hansen is a Greenville-area resident.
Ellie