thedrifter
06-12-08, 08:21 AM
A Marine's inspiration
By Jeb Bobseine/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Jun 12, 2008 @ 12:09 AM
WALPOLE —
The old black-and-white photograph hangs in the living room of a North Street home.
A young and jaunty Walter C. Rockwood Jr. - a lopsided grin creasing his face - peers out across the years. With Marine boot camp in the rearview mirror, he wears his Alphas - a service uniform consisting of an olive green coat and a khaki shirt. His tie is knotted tightly, his buttons shine.
It's the same type of Marine service uniform his grandson, 21-year-old John Rockwood, now wears when reporting for duty. Rockwood, a 2005 graduate of Walpole High, completed Marine basic training June 6.
But while John Rockwood is proud of what he has already accomplished in the Corps and is excited about his future as a Marine, his mother and father, Kathy and Tom, are worried for their son and provide a note of caution to temper his exuberance.
They realize there is a war going on, and they're anxious about John Rockwood getting caught up in it.
Walter Rockwood enlisted in the Marines during World War II, though he did his service stateside.
In the years after World War II, newlyweds Walter and Mildred Rockwood lived near Parris Island, S.C. A captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Walter worked on the island that is home to the Corps' legendary training camp, while Mildred worked as a secretary at a nearby base. Late this winter and in the spring, their grandson returned to the island to become a Marine himself.
Sixty-two voices sounded rhythmically in the spring South Carolina heat: "Lordy, lordy, don't you know. Lordy, lordy, don't you know. I used to date the high school queen. Now I carry an M16."
In early mornings when the sky was still pre-dawn gray, Pvt. John Rockwood would dress, make his bed, finish morning barracks cleanup and hastily eat breakfast before facing the daily challenges. They began with running as far as four miles. Along with 61 others, Rockwood was in the midst of a 13-week training course known as boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island.
Rockwood, a former high school cross-country runner and a hockey and lacrosse player, drew his strength to do the drills from different sources. First, there were the 61 Marines around him; just when he thought he couldn't do one more push-up, he did 20 along with the person beside him. Second, he thought of his grandfather, the former Marine, who died 12 years before he was born.
Every day was a new challenge, Rockwood says, but he would think, "If he could do it, then I could do it."
He often wished he had met the man who inspired him to join up - the man who, he pointed out, wore the same uniform he does now. After all, just seeing the picture of Walter Rockwood in his own living room was enough to convince him that joining the Marines was "the coolest thing you could do."
"I'd ask him what it was like for him," John Rockwood says.
He never considered anything but joining the Marines, Tom, his father, says. When friends and family suggested he look at the Coast Guard or the Navy, John answered, "Absolutely not."
When his regiment's drill instructor Staff Sgt. Mooney called out a line, the 62 Marines responded: "Momma, momma, can't you see, what the Corps has done to me? Put me in the barber's chair, spun me around, I had no hair."
Mooney is about 5 feet 4 inches tall, says Rockwood, but "jacked."
"And, oh my God, he could yell," Rockwood adds. "They (the drill instructors) have the loudest voices I've ever heard."
His parents flew in to see him graduate last week - the first glimpse they'd had of him since March 10, when he boarded a bus in South Boston.
He was 20 pounds lighter, his once shaggy strawberry hair cut close to his scalp, wearing his "dress blues" - the Corps' signature red, white and blue uniform.
It's a transformation that began in January last year when Rockwood announced to his parents he was joining the Marines. After three semesters at Westfield State College, he decided that wasn't for him.
"His mother and I stopped breathing (when he told us)," Tom Rockwood says. His mother immediately panicked. Why? "Because we're at war," she says. "If we weren't it would have been OK - or at least a little better."
They asked him to hold off for six months before deciding. At some point, his father says, he asked John, "What if something happens to you, son?"
"It's scary sometimes," the younger Rockwood says, referring to the thought of being deployed to Iraq. "But they train you not to be scared."
You learn to have confidence in yourself, the guy next to you and the guy behind you, he says.
"He's not afraid. He's fearless," his father says. He's old enough to join, he's confident in his choice, and "he's going to be an excellent Marine."
Just like his grandfather, John Rockwood's parents say.
In the years after World War II, Walter Rockwood rose to the rank of captain. When his service was done, Walter and Mildred moved back to Walpole and raised five children. Last year, as John was waiting to make his final decision, he spoke with his grandmother. He asked what she remembered about her time in South Carolina when Walter was in the Marines.
She recalled having a "great time" as a 25-year-old newlywed, Rockwood says. "She thought it was the best thing you could ever do."
He told her he was joining the Marines and she began to cry. She told him that his grandfather would be so proud of him. Mildred C. Rockwood died last year.
Boot camp met all Rockwood's expectations. "It was 13 weeks of hell," he says.
The whole time, you never do anything right in the eyes of the instructors: You never dress right, look right or walk right, he says.
"Everything is hard. It's hard mentally, it's hard physically, it's all hard," he says. But he smiles as he says this, and says at the end of the day, "you amaze yourself."
He came to camp able to do seven pull-ups, and now he can do 16, he says.
He's always worked hard, his father says. If you give him a job he won't stop until it's done - just like his grandfather.
Growing up under Walter's rules, there were no Saturdays off, Tom Rockwood says. His father never talked much about his military service. And he himself never considered going into the military.
That may be a result of timing as much as anything, he says. He graduated from Walpole High in 1973 - as the Vietnam War came to a close. As a result, he had a very different viewpoint, he says. He didn't feel called to serve like his own son, John, has been.
"Military service was, sadly, not a popular career choice (at the time)," Tom says.
John Rockwood will return to South Carolina next week to military occupational school where he will learn, more specifically, what his Marine career will entail.
He's applied for the infantry.
Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext. 13.
Ellie
By Jeb Bobseine/Daily News staff
GHS
Posted Jun 12, 2008 @ 12:09 AM
WALPOLE —
The old black-and-white photograph hangs in the living room of a North Street home.
A young and jaunty Walter C. Rockwood Jr. - a lopsided grin creasing his face - peers out across the years. With Marine boot camp in the rearview mirror, he wears his Alphas - a service uniform consisting of an olive green coat and a khaki shirt. His tie is knotted tightly, his buttons shine.
It's the same type of Marine service uniform his grandson, 21-year-old John Rockwood, now wears when reporting for duty. Rockwood, a 2005 graduate of Walpole High, completed Marine basic training June 6.
But while John Rockwood is proud of what he has already accomplished in the Corps and is excited about his future as a Marine, his mother and father, Kathy and Tom, are worried for their son and provide a note of caution to temper his exuberance.
They realize there is a war going on, and they're anxious about John Rockwood getting caught up in it.
Walter Rockwood enlisted in the Marines during World War II, though he did his service stateside.
In the years after World War II, newlyweds Walter and Mildred Rockwood lived near Parris Island, S.C. A captain in the U.S. Marine Corps, Walter worked on the island that is home to the Corps' legendary training camp, while Mildred worked as a secretary at a nearby base. Late this winter and in the spring, their grandson returned to the island to become a Marine himself.
Sixty-two voices sounded rhythmically in the spring South Carolina heat: "Lordy, lordy, don't you know. Lordy, lordy, don't you know. I used to date the high school queen. Now I carry an M16."
In early mornings when the sky was still pre-dawn gray, Pvt. John Rockwood would dress, make his bed, finish morning barracks cleanup and hastily eat breakfast before facing the daily challenges. They began with running as far as four miles. Along with 61 others, Rockwood was in the midst of a 13-week training course known as boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island.
Rockwood, a former high school cross-country runner and a hockey and lacrosse player, drew his strength to do the drills from different sources. First, there were the 61 Marines around him; just when he thought he couldn't do one more push-up, he did 20 along with the person beside him. Second, he thought of his grandfather, the former Marine, who died 12 years before he was born.
Every day was a new challenge, Rockwood says, but he would think, "If he could do it, then I could do it."
He often wished he had met the man who inspired him to join up - the man who, he pointed out, wore the same uniform he does now. After all, just seeing the picture of Walter Rockwood in his own living room was enough to convince him that joining the Marines was "the coolest thing you could do."
"I'd ask him what it was like for him," John Rockwood says.
He never considered anything but joining the Marines, Tom, his father, says. When friends and family suggested he look at the Coast Guard or the Navy, John answered, "Absolutely not."
When his regiment's drill instructor Staff Sgt. Mooney called out a line, the 62 Marines responded: "Momma, momma, can't you see, what the Corps has done to me? Put me in the barber's chair, spun me around, I had no hair."
Mooney is about 5 feet 4 inches tall, says Rockwood, but "jacked."
"And, oh my God, he could yell," Rockwood adds. "They (the drill instructors) have the loudest voices I've ever heard."
His parents flew in to see him graduate last week - the first glimpse they'd had of him since March 10, when he boarded a bus in South Boston.
He was 20 pounds lighter, his once shaggy strawberry hair cut close to his scalp, wearing his "dress blues" - the Corps' signature red, white and blue uniform.
It's a transformation that began in January last year when Rockwood announced to his parents he was joining the Marines. After three semesters at Westfield State College, he decided that wasn't for him.
"His mother and I stopped breathing (when he told us)," Tom Rockwood says. His mother immediately panicked. Why? "Because we're at war," she says. "If we weren't it would have been OK - or at least a little better."
They asked him to hold off for six months before deciding. At some point, his father says, he asked John, "What if something happens to you, son?"
"It's scary sometimes," the younger Rockwood says, referring to the thought of being deployed to Iraq. "But they train you not to be scared."
You learn to have confidence in yourself, the guy next to you and the guy behind you, he says.
"He's not afraid. He's fearless," his father says. He's old enough to join, he's confident in his choice, and "he's going to be an excellent Marine."
Just like his grandfather, John Rockwood's parents say.
In the years after World War II, Walter Rockwood rose to the rank of captain. When his service was done, Walter and Mildred moved back to Walpole and raised five children. Last year, as John was waiting to make his final decision, he spoke with his grandmother. He asked what she remembered about her time in South Carolina when Walter was in the Marines.
She recalled having a "great time" as a 25-year-old newlywed, Rockwood says. "She thought it was the best thing you could ever do."
He told her he was joining the Marines and she began to cry. She told him that his grandfather would be so proud of him. Mildred C. Rockwood died last year.
Boot camp met all Rockwood's expectations. "It was 13 weeks of hell," he says.
The whole time, you never do anything right in the eyes of the instructors: You never dress right, look right or walk right, he says.
"Everything is hard. It's hard mentally, it's hard physically, it's all hard," he says. But he smiles as he says this, and says at the end of the day, "you amaze yourself."
He came to camp able to do seven pull-ups, and now he can do 16, he says.
He's always worked hard, his father says. If you give him a job he won't stop until it's done - just like his grandfather.
Growing up under Walter's rules, there were no Saturdays off, Tom Rockwood says. His father never talked much about his military service. And he himself never considered going into the military.
That may be a result of timing as much as anything, he says. He graduated from Walpole High in 1973 - as the Vietnam War came to a close. As a result, he had a very different viewpoint, he says. He didn't feel called to serve like his own son, John, has been.
"Military service was, sadly, not a popular career choice (at the time)," Tom says.
John Rockwood will return to South Carolina next week to military occupational school where he will learn, more specifically, what his Marine career will entail.
He's applied for the infantry.
Jeb Bobseine can be reached at jeb@walpoletimes.com or 508-668-0243, ext. 13.
Ellie