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thedrifter
12-23-07, 07:16 AM
Legion and family honor Burns Harbor Marine

December 23, 2007

BY CHARLES M. BARTHOLOMEW Post-Tribune Correspondent


BURNS HARBOR -- The Westport Community Center was dark, but the parking lot was full of cars as Marine Lance Cpl. Carlos Jimenez neared the door.

"Something's going on," Jimenez, 21, of South Haven, said.

Jimenez and his fiancee, Selestina Rordriguez, 19, of Portage thought they were attending a fund-raiser for Supporters of the Military group, but when he opened the door, 50 guests shouted: "Surprise!"

The 2005 graduate of Portage High School and a former member of the Marines JROTC program, had returned from a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq in May. Jimenez will return for a second stint at the end of February, his mother, Diana, said.

American Legion Post 502 judge advocate Dave Sadler and his wife, Dorothy, who was Jimenez's first-grade teacher's assistant at Paul Saylor School, hugged the Marine.

"He knew what he wanted to do and he did it. He was in shape for the Marines," said Sadler, who recalled Jimenez' days competing for the local Boys &Girls Club at a national track meet.

Sadler said the post had welcomed him home, as they do all of the community's "hometown heroes," with a fire engine escort and a Legion membership paid for while he is on active duty.

Jimenez will serve in a mobile assault platoon, patrolling streets in a Humvee "like the police force, asserting our presence" as part of the 3rd Battalion of the 4th Marine Division during his seven-month return.

Ellie