Pupils take on Marines as pen pals

DOVER-FOXCROFT – Third-grade pupil Drew Smith was pretty particular about his penmanship late last week as he composed a letter in his classroom at Morton Avenue Elementary School.

After all, the letter was not his typical classroom assignment. Drew and his classmates in Lisa Gastonguay’s room were writing letters to their pen pals, new Marine recruits at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot at Parris Island, S.C.

Drew said he had lots of questions for recruit Kyle Tipton, among them what type of weapon he carried. “I asked him what kind of gun he had ’cause I pretty much know all kinds of guns,” the little boy said recently.

Gastonguay, whose own son, Timothy Gastonguay, is among the new Marine recruits, knows the importance of letters from home, so she pitched the letter-writing campaign to the pupils in her Dover-Foxcroft classroom and to Senior Drill Instructor Sgt. Christopher Lowman at Parris Island.

The idea for the pen pal relationship with the recruits in her son’s platoon was embraced by both the pupils and Lowman, she said.

“The response from the students has been wonderful, and it has improved their writing skills,” Gastonguay said recently. Handwriting skills have improved, and the pupils are learning how to ask questions and to maintain a relationship, she said.

Not only does the program help the pupils improve their writing and communication skills, but it also provides moral support to the new recruits, according to the teacher.

That relationship is just what some recruits need, according to Lowman.

While all of his recruits receive letters from home, some don’t get letters as nearly as often as others, he said in an e-mail to the Bangor Daily News. “I think for those recruits, [the letters from the pupils] touched them in some way,” Lowman wrote.

While the letters from the pupils are more important to some than to others, all the recruits are getting something out of the pen pal relationship, he said. They seem to “enjoy the idea of helping out with a child’s education and making a new little friend.”

To help make the relationship go a little smoother, Gastonguay provides the recruits with self-addressed stamped envelopes. She said it takes five days for letters from the pupils to arrive at Parris Island and about three weeks before a response is received.

That wait is a little long for third-grader Hannah Graham, who looks forward to mail call. Hannah said she told her pen pal recruit Michael Deulley that she, too, wants to serve in the military, and she gave him a little gift of red and orange pressed maple leaves.

Much to Graham’s delight, Deulley responded, telling the youngster that “being a Marine is a very brave thing to do and you sound like a very brave lady.” He also asked for a progress report of how she is doing in school.

Gastonguay’s pen pal program provides valuable lessons for pupils, and also is a training tool for the Marines, according to Lowman.

“I think that sometimes, we, as Marines, get wrapped around the axle, so to speak, and forget that the reason we sacrifice so much and train so hard is for the people that are at home. Whether they know them or not, it is those individuals that make up the United States and that is ultimately what we are here to defend. I personally feel like we are giving back to the community and helping foster a better relationship with the communities.”

Drew, who had an uncle in the Air Force and who wants to join the military after he graduates, knows that servicemen and women work hard to protect the country. He figures that the letters he sends might brighten up recruit Tipton’s day.

“I like writing him letters,” he said.