Newsday.com
Veteran gives back to younger soldiers

BY OLIVIA WINSLOW

olivia.winslow@newsday.com

9:07 PM EDT, August 25, 2007

Luis Duran of Copiague has endured the rigors of war. As a Marine in Iraq, he received an arm injury from shrapnel when a suicide car bomber attacked his convoy patrolling in Fallujah on April 30, 2004.

The force of the explosion, Duran recalled, "sent me flying a couple of feet ... We came under coordinated attack by insurgents."

Martin Kramer, 80, a Marine Corps veteran who served in the Pacific during World War II, wanted to help fellow Marines returning from service in Afghanistan and Iraq with their college expenses.

So Kramer, a former sergeant, and his wife, Margot, established the Semper Fi Scholarship at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, where Duran, a Marine from 2002 to 2006 and a former corporal to receive the annual $6,000 scholarship.

"We really feel for these kids who are now serving in the war," Kramer said. "Marines are being discharged every day and they haven't had the wherewithal to go to college and we decided to help," he said, noting that tuition money under the GI Bill "isn't enough ... to pay for four years of college."

The bill provides about $38,700 for tuition to a veteran over four years. Duran's tuition is $24,700 per year.

"We wanted to do our part and give a little back," said Kramer, who is chairman of Trimfit Inc., a family-owned hosiery manufacturer in Manhattan.

During a ceremony at the college Thursday, Kramer, a Manhasset resident who had lived in Brookville near the Post campus for decades, and Duran met for the first time.

"He's an outstanding young man," Kramer said, "very deserving."

"It's exciting," Duran, 24, said of meeting the Kramers, C.W. Post officials including President David Steinberg and Provost Joseph Shenker, as well as Marine Col. Jim Rooney, security support officer for the First Marine Corps District headquartered in Garden City.

Earlier, Duran said the Semper Fi scholarship from the Kramers "gives me a lot of relief ... Usually, I'm worried about, 'Do I have enough for the next semester's bill?'"

Shenker said of Kramer: "It's a wonderful concept, giving back to the youth who serve this country."

Kramer said he felt "uncomfortable" revealing the amount of his gift. College officials indicated it was significant: Not only will it finance Duran's annual $6,000 scholarship, but also an endowment making the scholarship permanent.

Duran will continue to receive the scholarship for his remaining three years at Post, where he's majoring in criminal justice, as long as he continues to meet all the criteria, including maintaining at least a B average. When Duran graduates, another Marine Corps veteran student will be chosen, said Lisa Mulvey, Post's associate vice president for development and alumni relations.

Duran said he received $1,075 a month as a freshman through the GI Bill for college and must reapply this year. He said he also receives federal and state grants and loans and is working part-time at the college. Mulvey said Post also awarded Duran a separate $6,000 scholarship..

"Without those scholarships," Duran said, "it would definitely be hard for me to go college."

Ellie