Cpl. Shaun Webb

Well I guess this whole story would begin around March of 2000. Shaun always was fascinated by the "Marines", whether it was the toughness that they portrayed or the Rambo like lifestyle that they lived, he was all for it. While Shaun was in his last year of high school "they" came. Yep, all of the branches of service were there to enlist those who wanted the much desired excitement that they could offer. Shaun felt as though no one compared to the Marines, nope there was no one tougher. Shaun informed us that a recruiter, by the name of Sgt. Lamey, would be coming to our house "just to talk". Shaun was so excited and no matter what his dad nor anyone else had to tell him there would be no changing his mind! He had thought about this for several years and had pretty much made up his mind that this would be his goal.

On May 20, 2000 Shaun graduated from Minooka High School and on May 29, 2000 Shaun left for Boot Camp in San Diego, California. This was the hardest thing, as his family, that we had ever gone through. We watched the clock tick as the minutes went by and just wished that time would stand still. Sgt. Lamey was about 15 minutes late and we figured maybe they forgot him....that would of been fine by us, but indeed the military doesn’t forget and slowly but surely they pulled into our driveway and was ready to take Shaun on a career that he nor his family would soon forget. As Shaun’s family, and his girlfriend, we stood and said our goodbyes through all of the tears and hugs. This was the beginning of his military life for the next 4 years.

After Shaun arrived in San Diego he was allowed to call, "Hi mom, I’m here I will talk to you later, they won’t let us talk long, I love you, Bye. We didn’t hear anything from Shaun for quite some time and we all would check the mailbox quite frequently. On June 9^th it came, running in to the house screaming with excitement there was a letter as big as you please from our Shaunie. He explained that there actually are people that holler more than his mother. He is being taught the "Marine" way and that it is "their way" or you will be "Smoked"! Which in Marine terms means going out into this sand pit which is full of fire ants, broken shells and small ridged rocks that embed in your hands after about 100 push ups, not a place that you want to go. The food is actually pretty good but they just don’t seem to care if you would like seconds or not. Sleep is limited and this definitely isn’t home. Shaun sent lots of letters telling us all of the things he was learning and how he had become Squad Leader over his platoon. His superiors were very impressed by this 17 year old and felt as though Shaun had much to offer.

At times it seemed as though he had been gone forever and many tears were shed while he was away. Fourteen days before Shaun was to graduate from Boot Camp his Grammy Doo’s passed away with cancer. She had been ill before he went in and they talked about if she did not make it until after his graduation he would not come home, he would graduate with his platoon. This was very hard for Shaun to deal with not only on his own but this was the first person he was close to that had died.

After much hard work the time had finally come when we would fly out to see Shaun graduate from Boot Camp. We all were so excited that words could not start to explain how proud we felt. They had a complete schedule for us to follow upon arriving. The first night was a dinner but before eating we would all gather around outside and wait to see our boys march in with their platoon. Of course we were right up by the ropes even if we had to wait for about an hour we weren’t about to miss anything. Nervously we waited and watched and from afar we could here a cadence and many marching feet. They marched in to the right of us filling in every inch, there were so many, they were so disciplined. Then we spotted Shaun, his head was down and he could not look up for fear of losing his composure. He was standing approximately 15 feet away and didn’t know we were right in front of him. I had explained to him in a previous letter he probably wouldn’t see us but I would whistle and he would know we were there. Well need I say that is exactly what I did and all you could see was Shaun swallowing very hard but not looking up or cutting his eyes in any way, as he knew we were there.

Shaun was quite different indeed. He was so skinny and meek. Goodness it was good to see our boy but what have they done to him? After the ceremony we were all so happy to see him and pride for all of his accomplishments were just busting out all over. Shaun definitely looked so proud. As he stood up straight, with his shoulders back and fist clenched, which took forever for us to get him to relax, he was now a Marine.

After graduation from boot camp with honors, Shaun has been stationed at Camp Pendleton in California for the past 2 1/2 years. He is now a Corporal and gets to do some yelling now. Even though Shaun lived all the way across the United States we talked about every couple days if only to hear each others voices and to reassure us that everything was OK. Shaun has resided there until his latest move which is currently taking him to Kuwait. We found out about this while he was home on Christmas leave. This was very saddening to us all but really didn’t come as any shock. He left after Christmas break to head back to California to box up all of his belongings and to put his much loved truck in storage. After putting the truck in storage he called and said that was a really hard thing to do and how much he hated putting it away. I guess for him it was the finality of what was to come.

Shaun pulled out of port on January 17, 2003 on a ship named "The USS Anchorage". Since his departure we have only spoken once on the phone. The reception was scratchy but we put him on speaker phone anyway. He said he was OK and had seen some flying fish, dolphins and a whale....all of which Channahon doesn’t offer so he was quite excited. The food was bearable and he was fine. "I’ve been lifting lots of weights too", he said. Need I say the conversation ended too soon and with a "We Love You and We Miss You", he had to go. Will we ever get used to this? his girlfriend Kate, and our family have asked this many times. I don’t think anyone who has a loved one in the military can, so we continue to pray for not only Shaun but for all of the military and their families that are going through the same thing we are that God keep his hand on them all. Shaun has gone to church since he was born, and through the spiritual guidance of Pastor Robertson, Papa & Nanny Webb, the church family, and many other influences, Shaun has grown to become and outstanding young man.

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