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thedrifter
10-25-08, 10:57 AM
Marine Corps legacy passed down to Seymour senior football player
Yvette Martinez


Training, discipline and a heart for service is helping a Seymour High School senior to carry on a Marine Corps legacy.

Three decades ago, Dan Deremer ran in the Marine Corps Marathon as a young Marine. This weekend his son will travel to Washington D.C. to run in the same race that will launch his own military career.

The Seymour Eagles practiced indoors Friday to get ready for their football game against Claiborne.

One senior on the team has made an even bigger long range commitment, to his country.

"I decided to join the Marine Corps just because I wanted to serve my country and do my part," Seymour High School senior Benjamin Deremer said.

Benjamin has grown up learning about the Marine Corps and getting comfortable in camouflage. He spent four years in the Young Marines Program, finishing as an honor graduate.

It's a passion passed down by his father.

"I wanted to go to college after I graduated from high school and didn't really have the resources, so, I thought that would be a good way to get away from the house a little bit, grow up and earn some money for school. So, that's why I went into the Marines," Dan Deremer said.

Dan guarded President Jimmy Carter as a Marine and spent time on the Silent Drill Team. Each experience was inspirational to his son.

"Probably the best drill team in the world and how everything they do is just perfect, I kind of wanted to be like that," Benjamin said.

Dan also ran the Marine Corps Marathon 30 years ago, which is now his son's latest goal. Benjamin will follow in his father's footsteps and run in the 33rd Annual Marine Corps Marathon this weekend, after playing football Friday night.

"I've gotten up on Saturday mornings after games and went out to run 17 milers. Since I'm running on Sunday, I'll have an extra day of rest so I should be good to go," Benjamin said.

"I don't know a whole lot of 17-year-old kids that have the determination and the willingness to do something like that," Dan added.

While he's running the course, Benjamin will officially turn 18, but he will be more focused on some other numbers. "About noon this October 26, I'll be at probably mile 22 or 23."

Then in June, he will leave Seymour to go off to bootcamp, then perhaps to the Middle East. "Being sent overseas, that's one of the things you have to accept whenever you join the military, so I'm ready to do whatever my country needs me to do," Benjamin said. "I'd love for it to be over, but I think if there's still a job to do then we need to do it."

His father's military experience helps him understand his son's commitment, but he is worried about what his son could face should he be sent to Afghanistan or Iraq.

"You have to let your kids make their own decisions," Dan said. "He realizes the potential risks."

Benjamin is in the delayed entry program. He will graduate in May 2009. He is scheduled to leave for bootcamp on June 8.

Ellie