Lance Cpl. Bryan Townsend, USMC

St. John the Evangelist School’s Kindergarten class joined with the Eighth grade students this Holiday Season to send unique packages of care and gratitude to one of St. John the Evangelist School’s graduates and the thirty members of his company stationed in Afghanistan.  Lance Cpl. Bryan Townsend is a graduate of the class of 2000.  During his time at St. John the Evangelist School, Bryan was a very social, outgoing and caring individual.  His athletic talents included participating on St. John’s cross-country, basketball and baseball teams.  His popularity made him many good friends from St. John School.  After elementary school, Bryan attended and graduated from Holy Cross High School and decided to join the military, wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps.

This is Bryan’s second tour of duty.  Bryan is currently part of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU). The 26th MEU is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Jejune, North Carolina. The Marine Expeditionary Unit is a Marine Air-Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. The MEU consists of four major parts: a command element, a ground combat element, an aviation combat element, and a logistics element. Bryan and his company of marines and sailors will also support flood relief efforts in Pakistan.  The 26th MEU Executive Officer Lieutenant Colonel Michael Starling says, “The Marines and sailors of the MEU are very excited to be able to conduct real-world relief operations to relieve suffering in Pakistan.”  The unit trained for five months before deploying on their mission overseas.

Mrs. Keating, Bryan’s mother, showed the Kindergarten and Eighth Grade students a slide-show presentation of what Bryan’s day consists of and the unique ways his company operates to carry out their overseas missions.  The children were fascinated by the pictures and wonderful stories Mrs. Keating shared with them.  Growing up, Bryan was Mrs. Cieslewski’s (St. John’s Kindergarten Teacher) neighbor and would often find himself seated at her dinner table chatting about his day and future ambitions.  Because Bryan holds a special place in Mrs. Cieslewski’s heart, she wanted her class to understand the importance of what our troops are doing for our country today and how their efforts affect our everyday lives.  She encouraged her students to write letters of gratitude and send special packages to show how much Brian and his company is kept in our hearts.  Mrs. Iannone, St. John’s Technology teacher, and the Eighth grade students helped the Kindergartners write their letters to the troops.  The two classes also paired together to package all the donated items by St. John parents.  More than twenty packages were sent overseas, containing personal care items, entertainment items, snacks, letters of gratitude and commemorative 9-11 flags painted by the Kindergarten students.  

Mrs. Keating expressed how excited Bryan and his company will be to receive the packages.  She said, “Bryan and his friends live for 'mail day'.  It is a link to their lives back home.”  Bryan will not be home for the holidays.  St. John School’s Kindergarten and Eighth Grade students hope Bryan and the troops know how much we appreciate their sacrifices.  The students hope the packages bring some happiness to Bryan and his friends.  We pray for Bryan’s safe trip home and look forward to seeing him when he returns to Watertown.  God bless you, Bryan.

UPDATE

Our kindergarten and 8th grade students received an email from a US Marine who received some of our packages!

Thank you soo much for the care packages you and your class sent us!

It meant so much to everybody and everyone enjoyed them. I want to get

with all the boys and send yall a flag with all of our names and how much

we appreciated what yall did. Also, if you want pictures of us during the

deployment I will be more than happy to send them. Again we appreciate

everything yall have done and it's for people like yall why we fight for our

country. We wish you the best of luck and a great new year.

Lcpl Kavula, Christopher

To see a photograph of Lcpl Kavula and his buddies, click on the SJS Kindergarten page