Photo By Chief Warrant Officer James Marchetti | (From left to right) Tom, Noah and Becky Morgan stand before their Corinth, N.Y.,...... read more read more
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What few cars move through and around Corinth, N.Y.’s rolling hills emit a soft, soothing drone. Nestled within this rural, square-mile village is a modest white house, its siding slightly faded, much like the New York Yankees’ flag hung above its front stoop. This rural scene is a sharp contrast to Noah Morgan’s last 13 weeks.
Noah’s face isn’t as soft and boyish as it was before leaving in December 2015, most notably in his eyes, still green but now glinting wisdom in place of youthful curiosity. He sits in the white house, his elbows rested upon the kitchen table evoking no glares or remarks from his mom, Becky – this time. This table is the touchstone of Thanksgivings past, a host of memories forgotten, but many more reminisced upon.
This is the place Noah Morgan calls home.
Not many people can say they have grown up to be what they always wanted at the age of 19, Becky said. Thirteen weeks away from her only son was a mental marathon, she recounts.
A banner promulgating “Welcome home Private Morgan!” and embellished in glitter, navy blue and scarlet paint still hung between the kitchen and rear-sunroom doorframe – an attestation to the mother’s burgeoning anticipation of March 11, 2016.
Noah’s room upstairs totes the same color scheme with “Semper Fi” embossed onto the wall, and has been this way for more than a decade.
After she and her husband Tom gave a Marine book to their seven year old son, “he’s been talking about it ever since; it’s all he’s ever wanted to do, and he’s never changed his mind,” Becky explained.
March 11, Noah’s graduation date from Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. was the day these aspirations came to reality.
Huddled around the kitchen table, Tom and his son reminisced upon simpler times, specifically Noah’s athletic heydays – back when he ran track and played football down the block from his home at Corinth Junior-Senior High School, where he graduated in 2015.
“He’s smaller [than most linemen],” said Tom, standing over the kitchen table and looking down at Noah. “But he couldn’t have lost his center job if he tried.” Referencing football, Tom’s expression softened to a grin, and his and his son’s eyes met. “It didn’t matter how big the kid was,” Tom said, “Noah would push them around.”
Captain of both teams his senior year, Noah said the tight-knit, familial feel – that of the village of Corinth itself, as well as his athletic background – was something he did not want to let go. His own accolades on the gridiron and track aside, what resonated most with Noah, he said, is “spending time with the same group of people,” “getting to know one another as well as family,” and, “all working toward a common goal.”
As the U.S.’s smallest branch of the armed forces, joining the Marine Corps made that much more sense, Noah said.
This love for sport and comradery, according to Tom and Noah, nearly detracted from the latter’s intent to enlist. In the fall of 2014 and spring 2015, the Morgan family went on several college trips together. Four, to be precise, and Tom accounted for them with skyward eyes, pondering: Ithaca College, State University of New York Cortland, Castleton University – all New York schools – and Merrimack College of New Hampshire.
“Really, I tried talking him into going to college first, then enlisting or commissioning into the Marine Corps afterward,” Tom said, backtracking to the mindset of a father concerned with his son’s departure from the nest. “My thinking was ‘go to college for four years’ – if he could’ve found a college he’d play football at, that is. And there were colleges that were interested.”
While touring the campuses and facilities, however, the parents said they felt an unswayable indifference in their child.
“You can’t tell him anything,” Becky added, a modest smile set at her son across the table. After a silent pause, a coming-to of emotional perplexity – shoulder shrug, catch of breath – she said, “He knows what he wants, what he likes, and you can’t convince him otherwise.”
Noah is slated to report into the Corps’ School of Infantry East, located at Marine Corps Base Camp Geiger, N.C., April 13, 2016. He will train there for two months before graduating as an infantry rifleman.
That close-knit, communal feel intrinsic to Corinth, Noah said, has prepared him for the lifestyle of a Marine infantryman.
| Date Taken: | 04.06.2016 |
| Date Posted: | 04.07.2016 16:16 |
| Story ID: | 194731 |
| Location: | CORINTH, NY, US |
| Web Views: | 304 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, Corinth, N.Y. Native Takes Small-Town Lessons to Marine Corps, by CW2 James Marchetti, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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