Thursday, September 3 – Following the Marine Freedom Ceremony

Photos: A combination of mine and our daughter Deb.

His first need was to go to Marine’s Corps Exchange Department Store for a few things he needed for the Graduation Ceremony and our trip home. I think everyone had fun during the one-hour shopping experience. Cerwin and I just sat on electric shopping carts and enjoyed a Pepsi and watching people. We were glad that no one needed those carts during our time there.

When we got back in the van, he opened the plastic bag where he stored his “prize” items from Boot Camp.

We sat in the back of the van so missed some of his descriptions of the items.

This was probably his most prized item – the Eagle Globe Emblem he received from his Drill Instructor after finishing The Crucible – the time he became an official Marine. That was for his mom to keep safe with other memories from Boot Camp.

Then he gave her a Marine neckless.

She loved that he kept a diary.

Kristen is an avid scrapbooker, so she asked him to get anything she could use for scrapbooking.

The scrapbook will be a treasure to her.

Jere received a double-sided Marine medallion with the date of the day he became a Marine – following The Crucible.

You can see we are still in the parking lot of the Exchange Store because of the people walking in front of our van.

The date he completed The Crucible was 08/22/26.

Roy was honored to receive the same medallion. It was a thank you gift for all the advice and encouragement Roy gave him before leaving for Boot Camp. Roy is retired Navy.

Roy was very honored.

Our next stop was at our motel, where Jere asked for permission to have our lunch in the breakfast area. It was so hot and humid outside that we were blessed to have the attendant give us permission eat there -in air conditioning.

There was a smaller family doing the same thing in the back part of the room. They quickly arranged their tables and chairs to make room for us and gave us any extra chairs. They had also brought their own picnic lunch. Jere asked the clerk if we could bring in extra tables and chairs from the area outside the front door. That worked.

The white tables and chairs were from outside.

Our lunch of sandwiches, snacks, and drinks came from home and traveled in the trailer we pulled behind the van. We each gave Jere our sandwich choice the evening before – ham, turkey, and dry beef, also if you wanted mayonnaise or butter. Jere prepared them for us at 4 am that morning.

The first thing Jesse wanted was the Maplehofe chocolate milk that Uncle Roy and Aunt Deb brought for him. They live close to Maplehofe Dairy. It is Jesse’s favorite chocolate milk.

Ready for lunch.

Jere asked Cerwin to pray and when he did, Cerwin also prayed for the other family next to us and the 474 Marines graduates. When he said, “Amen” some from the other family members joined us by saying “Amen.” The mother of the Marine thanked us for including them in our prayer. She said that meant so much to her. That family even included the Marine’s great grandmother.

I noticed that each Marine had shirt sleeves that were rolled up in a perfect manner. I wondered how they did it. We learned they do that before putting on the shirt.

We had so many questions for Jesse.

Following lunch, Jared and Yeira called from Germany, where they were vacationing with her family. The graduation was originally planned for the following week, so they thought they would be okay traveling during the first week of September. They had their flight and motel plans made by the time Marine graduation was set for September 4. They were disappointed but enjoyed their time with her parents.

Deb took this picture of the back of one of the chairs in this breakfast room. It is of the Marine logo.

My next post will be about the Command Dinner where we met Jesse’s Commanders.