By Karenlyn Barone
Marines Timmy and Sean Ledwith, ages 30 and 23, respectively, serve in the same weapons company in Iraq. For their mother, Susan, having her sons serve side by side provides some comfort in the war's uncertainty.
"It is very comforting to know that they are together, no matter what happens," said Susan. "I know they are looking out for each other and they will always help each other."
The brothers are following in the military footsteps of their maternal grandfather, who was a colonel in the Army; their father's brother, Eugene, who served in the Army Paratroopers during World War II, and their older brother, Peter, 39, who served in the Marines from 1983 to 1987.
"My brother may have told my sons great war stories, and he did have a way of making the military sound charming and very interesting," said Peter Ledwith Sr., an attorney and the legal counsel for the Village of Lynbrook. "But it was my oldest son, Peter, who really set the tone for his younger brothers with the Marines."
Susan said it seemed that every time she turned around there was another recruiter in the living room talking to son Peter about enlisting. Peter signed up right after high school, and, naturally, Timmy and Sean would pretend to be a soldier like their big brother. They dressed up like Marines and played with make-believe weapons. For several years they even insisted that their birthday parties have a military theme.
"The children would wear fatigues, we would serve franks and beans and they would run an obstacle course we set up in the backyard," said Susan. "They loved it!"
Timmy always liked the idea of serving in the military, according to his parents, and joined the Marines in 1993. Although he finished serving his time in 1997, he re-enlisted a few years later to serve with Sean. "Timmy wanted to be with Sean to show him the ropes," said Susan.
Timmy and Sean requested to serve in the same company and were required to sign a waiver, a requirement put in place by the military after five sons from the same family were killed in World War II.
"They are their own personal best friends," said Peter of the two boys, who are part of a family of seven boys and three girls. "The worst part is that we miss them so much."
"They both love being Marines and we're happy they're together," said Susan. "We just know they'll have great stories when they come home."
SH: Women on the line
It's not uncommon to have generations of West Point cadets from the same family, but Pat Connors of Malverne believes she is the first mother to have three daughters at the U.S. Military Academy at the same time. Daughter Ellie graduated from West Point in 2001, Colleen will graduate this May, and Tina in 2004.
When asked how proud she is of her daughters, Pat, a registered nurse, couldn't speak, but simply smiled as her eyes filled with tears. All three of her daughters have gone through the most rigorous of training and conditioning, both mentally and physically, in preparation for serving their country.
"I strongly believe in some kind of service to one's country," said their father, Dan, a teacher in New York City and an Army Vietnam veteran. "I felt West Point offered my daughters a great opportunity to be challenged."
All three young women were scouted by a West Point soccer coach during high school, and all three made verbal commitments to attend the academy upon graduation. "My daughters were all offered scholarships to other schools, but they turned them all down to attend West Point," said Dan.
Tina, 20, was actively recruited while still a freshman and said she always knew she wanted to attend the academy with her sisters. "When my sister Ellie entered West Point, I learned so much about the academy, I just knew I wanted to go there," she said. "I just couldn't imagine myself going anywhere else."
While all three sisters were at West Point they made sure they had dinner together at least once a week, a tradition Colleen and Tina have continued even though Ellie, 24, has graduated. Colleen, 22, feels she is the luckiest of the sisters. "I was never alone," she said. "Being the middle sister, I've always had a sister with me at the academy, and that is a blessing."
On the other hand, Colleen has had the roughest time physically. Due to a soccer accident, she has had to endure six surgeries, the most serious a meniscus transplant just two years ago. "Everyone said I couldn't do it, that I wouldn't last, and here I am, graduating in May," she said.
The Connors cadets are part of a small percentage of women who attend West Point. Out of a class of 4,000 future Army officers currently enrolled, less than 17 percent, about 680, are women, according to West Point Public Affairs Officer Frank DeMauro.
Colleen and Tina laugh when they think about how things have changed in a short time for the female cadets of West Point. Ellie was in the last class that required women to cut their hair and keep it no longer than chin length. The younger girls are now only required to keep their blond locks pulled back and off their faces at all times. Unfortunately, Ellie's class was also the latest to strengthen an age-old USMA myth.
"They say if it rains during three particular West Point events during any given year, that graduating class will go to war," explained Tina. "It rained my sister Ellie's year."
Ellie is now serving in Iraq as the platoon leader of about 30 soldiers tasked with working on the major supply route that runs from Kuwait to Baghdad. In fact, the girls say solemnly, cadets from the 1998 through 2002 classes have all been deployed.
"I know what my sister is doing in Iraq is life-and-death, but that's what we're trained to do," said Colleen. "West Point has prepared me to lead our troops, and I am ready."
"We're nothing special, just 110 percent cadet," said Tina.
