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thedrifter
08-21-08, 11:11 AM
August 21, 2008
Local Marine honored today

Gov. Bob Riley will present a proclamation to Sgt. Peyton Williams of Wetumpka today for being named the Marine of the Year.

In the spring, Williams was named Marine of the Year for the 2nd Marine Division -- which includes about 35,000 Marines.

The 22-year-old Marine found out about the honor while serving a seven-month deployment to Iraq. He returned to his duty station, Camp Lejeune in North Carolina in April and came home to Wetumpka for a visit in May.

Williams was also awarded a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.

Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq and nominee to take over Central Command, shook Williams' hand and gave him a coin in recognition of his achievement. Coins are a tradition in the military, most commanders and high-ranking officers have them and hand them out as tokens of appreciation.

In a letter to Williams' mother, his commanding officer, Capt. Brian Cillessen wrote, "Peyton has more talent by accident than most Marines learn in a career. ... I am very proud of Peyton's total dedication and efforts."

"I was pretty privileged," the Marine said in a May interview with the Montgomery Advertiser.

Also while he was deployed, Williams' father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. David Williams, a local guitarist, passed away in May.

Williams' Iraq deployment was his fourth, his third overseas, in his relatively short career. He enlisted in the Marine Corps before graduating from Holtville High School, shortly after Sept. 11, 2001.

On his first deployment of about three months, Williams went to Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Spain to help train the Royal Marines, Senegalese Army and the marines in Italy and Spain. Then he deployed for about six months to Europe, Jordan, Egypt, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. The primary mission was the Lebanon evacuation, he said.

Williams also was sent to Mississippi and Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. He spent a month and a half going door-to-door in St. Bernard's Parish.

Ellie