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thedrifter
03-15-09, 08:29 AM
Marine Corps League surprises teen with honorary membership
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March 14, 2009 - 3:32 PM
BY GREG OLSON
Journal-Courier

A local teenager got a surprise honorary membership in the U.S. Marine Corps League Saturday.

Dakota Reynolds, 17, of Jacksonville, a junior at Illinois School for the Deaf, was excited Saturday when he was presented with some symbols of the Marine Corps, a branch of the military he has admired for several years.

Because of his deafness, however, Mr. Reynolds is not eligible to serve in the Marines. “I would like to be the first deaf person to be in the Marines,” he said.

“His eyes were as big as plates when his name was called and he was presented with an honorary membership in the Marine Corps League,” said Mr. Reynolds’ mother, Amy Gallup, of Jacksonville.

C.O. Smith, commandant of the Marine Corps League, West Central Illinois Leathernecks Detachment 1177, made the presentation to Mr. Reynolds. Mr. Reynolds also received two Marine Corps T-shirts and a lanyard from the Marine Corps League Auxiliary. The presentation was made prior to the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Jacksonville.

“I feel honored, and I was very surprised,” said Mr. Reynolds. “I didn’t expect it one little bit.” Mrs. Gallup, who also gave her son a set of custom-made dog tags, said the presentation was arranged by the Marine Corps League.

“I had originally asked the detachment if they would assist with the presentation of the dog tags, but during a meeting it was decided to give him the honorary membership,” said Mrs. Gallup, who served two enlistments in the Marine Corps.

Mr. Reynolds is the son of Amy and Robert Gallup, of Jacksonville, and Angie and Mark Reynolds, of Lillington, N.C.

Mrs. Gallup served in the Marine Corps from 1989 to 1991 and from 1994 to 1999. From 1989 to 1991, she was stationed at Marine Corps Air Station, Cherry Point, N.C., where Dakota Reynolds was born March 16, 1991.

From 1994 to 1999, Mrs. Gallup served in the Marine Corps Reserves in Bridgeton, Mo.

Mr. Reynolds’ father served in the Marines from 1989 to 1995 and was stationed at MCAS, Cherry Point, N.C., and took part in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

“Mark returned home from the Middle East just days before Dakota was born,” said Mrs. Gallup. “I do want to be a part of the Marines because my parents were in the Marines,” said Dakota Reynolds. “I wanted to carry on the family tradition.”

“No one in my immediate family was in the military, but I joined the Marines for the challenge and also for the opportunity to see some of the world,” said Mrs. Gallup. “I grew up in rural Maine and had never been out of New England until I joined the Marines. When I was in the Marines, I got a chance to see a great deal of the United States, but I did not serve overseas.”

Dakota Reynolds has a more patriotic purpose for wanting to be in the Marine Corps. “I would want to be in the Marines for a totally different reason than my mom. I just want to serve the United States of America,” he said.

Mr. Reynolds plays football and runs track at ISD, has two part-time jobs and recently passed the pre-Marine Corps boot camp physical fitness test.

“The test required me to work hard, but I feel satisfied that I did my best,” he said.

golson@myjournalcourier.com

Ellie