Competing with Superman

Cub Scout den adopts local Marine for the month; plans gifts, cards, prayers

Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by REID SILVERMAN Trayvon Kanipe, 6, of Callaway, a Tiger Cub Scout in Den 4 of Pack #561, watches as his father, Owusu Kanipe, applies paint to his hand to create a flag print for a card-making project at the Den's Nov. 5 meeting. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story Click here to enlarge this photo Tina Miller, right, Den 4 leader for Cub Scout Pack 561 and mother of Grant Miller, 7, at left, laughs at her son's comments during the den's card-making project at its Nov. 5 meeting at the firehouse in Valley Lee. Click here to enlarge this photo Submitted photo Pfc. Julian M. Willis II of Prince Frederick, the focus of the Scouts hero project, is training at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina with the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Gulf Company. His unit is slated to go to Afghanistan in a year.

Tina Miller said before the Nov. 5 meeting that she knew she was up against some tough competition.

As the leader of an enthusiastic, squirmy group of first-graders, Den 4 of Cub Scout Pack #561, Miller was determined to expand her Scouts' definition of heroism at their first meeting of the month on Nov. 5.

"Who do you think is a hero?" she asked the Scouts once they were all seated around the long table set up at the Valley Lee firehouse.

There were some tentative suggestions of policemen and ambulance drivers. But the Scouts were more enthusiastic about superheros.

"Superman," said Trayvon Kanipe, 6, of Callaway.

"Spiderman," said Grant Miller, 7, Tina's son.

"It's hard to compete with that," Miller said before the meeting, anticipating the superhero response.

This month, Scouts across the country are focusing on the theme of heroes. It was Miller's idea to have her den adopt a local serviceman and focus on him as a hero for the den's project this month. Choosing her cousin's son, Pfc. Julian M. Willis II of Prince Frederick, Miller plans for her den to spend the month honoring the young man — he will turn 22 on Tuesday. The Scouts will put together a care package for Willis, make cards and drawings and pray daily for their adopted hero, Miller said.

Willis, who is in training at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina with the 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, Gulf Company, said he was very pleased to have a group of first-grade fans. "I appreciated it a lot," he said of when his mother, Rebecca Willis, told him about the Cub Scout adoption. "I think it's pretty cool that they care that much to send me something."

He said that he's found that a lot of people look up to him for being a Marine. He described, for instance, how the last time he came home and was wearing his uniform, he was at a local business and a man walked across the entire length of the parking lot just to thank Willis for his service. However, Willis said, he doesn't feel like a hero. Not yet, at least. That might happen once he goes to Afghanistan, he said. Willis' unit is slated to be deployed to Afghanistan next year.

"Then, maybe, I'll feel like a hero," he said.

Rebecca said her son was pleased with the Cub Scouts adoption plan when she told him several weeks ago.

"You could just hear this big smile," she said. "He was like, ‘Oh, cool!'"

Miller described the work of the military to the Cub Scouts. "The reason they are all heroes is because they protect … us. Not only us, but the whole country. Isn't that amazing?" Miller said.

Miller explained that Willis had recently completed boot camp and that he was going through additional training. "They learn how to be strong," she said. "They love our country so much that they will do anything to protect us — climb a tree, swim a river."

She noted that it is "sort of hard for soldiers to go far away from their families."

This struck a chord with some of the Scouts. "Scary," said Myles Dungan, 7, when asked about what soldiers do. "I think he would be really brave" to leave home and go far away from his family to protect the country, he said.

Parents of the Scouts assisted with the projects for the night — creating flag-print cards and a Marine-themed comforter.

Erik Anderson, father of Scout Conner Anderson, 6, stood to the side and listened to Miller's discussion of heroism and bravery and courage.

"I love it. This is outstanding," he said of the den's adoption of Willis for the month.

Anderson grew up in Detroit during the Vietnam era, he said, and as a Cub Scout and Boy Scout himself, he remembers that a couple of fellow Scout's fathers did not return from the war. And one returned missing one of his legs. "There was no support for the servicemen," Anderson said of that time.

He smiled at the boys' interaction at the table. "It's a wonderful change," he said.

Once the flag print decoration on the front of their cards was somewhat dry, each of the Scouts wrote a note to Julian Willis inside their card.

"Be brave. Sempre Fi," wrote Conner.

"I hope you win, Julian. I am in the first grade. I look like this," Myles wrote, illustrating with a stick figure.

"Thank you for serving our country," Trayvon said.

"Thank you for saving our country," Grant wrote, adding a smiley face.

"Good job, guys!" Miller said.

scraton@somdnews.com

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