New Marine Carries On His Family's Tradition

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Forum Spin Doctor
San Diego Union-Tribune
October 3, 2008
Family's stories inspire young serviceman
By David Hasemyer, Staff Writer
SAN DIEGO--When Pfc. Charles H. Lyman V graduates from basic training today at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, he will take his place not only in the fraternity of Marines, but also in a family line of veterans who have served in the military dating back to 1870.
To the Marine Corps values of honor, courage and commitment, Lyman can add heritage.
His bloodline includes six military men across four generations, men who served in the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War, and rose to ranks as high as general.
To Pfc. Lyman, 20, that history is an inspiration, not a burden.
He got hugs from his parents and promises of a big dinner yesterday during the depot's Family Day, when the new Marines finish their training with a five-mile run and see their families for the first time in three months.
After the run, Lyman walked the San Diego grounds in his crisp uniform, locked arm-in-arm with his grandmother, Gladys Ross. He drew a deep breath and paused when asked to consider the implication of his Marine Corps service.
“It's overwhelming to think the family history is staying alive through me,” he said.
Lyman, who was born in San Diego but raised in Seattle, grew up hearing sea stories from his grandfather and war stories from his uncle.
His parents recalled the awe on their young son's face whenever his Uncle Charles – a colonel who served in Europe with NATO forces – showed up at their door in his fatigues.
Young Charles would crane his head to look up at his uncle, his eyes wide and his mouth open.
“He was almost hypnotized,” said his mother, Betsy Gill.
The youngster reveled in tales of distant lands and daring exploits. “He soaked it all in, and as he grew up he began to think he could do the same things, have the same adventures,” said his father, David Lyman, an architectural designer.
Through high school and into the first couple of years of college, those dreams stayed in the back of Charles Lyman's mind.
“Somehow I just knew this is where I'd be,” he said.
And it struck him with a shiver when he toured the depot shortly after arriving in July for basic training. He was walking the same halls his great-grandfather and grandfather had when they were stationed there as base commanders.
He recalled standing there for the longest time, lost in thought. “I could be standing where they did,” he said. “You just stop and think, and you feel such a connection to the past.”
That past includes a family that traces its military heritage to Lyman's great-great-grandfather, Charles H. Lyman, who was commissioned from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1870 and died while on active duty. Maj. Gen. Charles H. Lyman II, his great-grandfather, was commanding officer at the depot in 1927 and 1928.
Col. Andrew Lyman, his grandfather, saw duty in the Pacific during World War II and served as deputy commander of the depot in 1967. Charles H. Lyman III, his great-uncle, served with the Navy as a destroyer commander in the Pacific during World War II and retired as a rear admiral.
His uncle, Charles H. Lyman IV, served 26 years in the Marine Corps before retiring as a colonel in 1995. His maternal grandfather, Robert Ross, served in the Navy during the Korean and Vietnam wars and retired as a master chief.
Lyman's parents didn't pressure their son to further the family legacy of military duty. They let him seek his own way, but hoped he'd finish college before making a decision.
Midway though Lyman's sophomore year in college, Gill saw her son wearing a crisp, new Marine Corps T-shirt.
“That's when I knew,” she said. “He was going to be a Marine.”
Her son soon left college behind.
Lyman, who will depart soon for Florida for training as a helicopter navigator, signed on knowing the certainty of war but relishing the adventure. “It was a choice – and I believe it was the right choice,” he said.
David Lyman acknowledged the weight of carrying the family's military history, but said his son will define himself in his own way.
“He isn't me. He isn't his grandfathers,” David Lyman said. “He has assimilated everything in his life and arrived at a decision to do some brave and difficult things.
And that means he is his own man now.”
Staff researcher Anne Magill contributed to this report.
 
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