Story by Lance Cpl. Ryan Hageali

(U.S. Marine Corps video) The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

Thousands of family members travel to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C. to see their loved ones graduate recruit training. One Marine’s father experienced a reality check when he was told he would not be attending his son’s graduation.

Eric Ciemiewicz was born on Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. to joint-service parents. His mother, Tina Kirts, served from 1998 to 2003; she ended her enlistment as a Sergeant. His father, Master Sgt. Devan Ciemiewicz has been in the Marine Corps for over 23 years.

Eric already knew at a young age that he wanted to join the military. Witnessing his parent’s fond memories of the Marine Corps left him desiring to join what he considered to be not only an elite branch of the armed forces, but a tightly-knit family.

“Three or four years ago he made the first comment to me,” said Devan. “He said, ‘Dad, I know that the other branches refer to themselves as coworkers; they have good bonds, but there is something about the Marine Corps – you call each other brothers and sisters.’”

As Eric was preparing to start a new chapter in his life, his father was nearing the finish line of his. Devan, a few years away from retiring, looked forward to seeing his son start his career right before his own ended.

“My father kept telling me about this dream he was having a couple years ago,” said Ciemiewicz. “He said he wanted to show up to my graduation in his dress blues, and for me to show up to his retirement in mine.”

Eric arrived on Parris Island in February of 2020 to begin recruit training. About a month into training, he would be thrown a curve ball that would change his father’s dream.

In mid-March of 2020, the COVID-19 virus would cause the depot to suspend base access to the public as a Force Health Protection measure. This meant temporarily ending public graduation ceremonies.

“As a parent, it’s heartbreaking that the public graduation won’t happen when your chapter opens up like that,” said Devan. “When you start on this journey, it’s an emotional experience.”

Eric said that receiving the news that his graduation would be suspended to the public was difficult to understand. However, he still looks forward to celebrating with his family in the future.

“If I could talk to my father right now I would probably grab him and tell him, ‘thank you for telling me all the things that you did before I got here,” Eric said. “The little stories he told me before I got here helped me get through it, and I really appreciate it.”

Eric graduated with Hotel Company on May 22, 2020. Although Devan couldn’t be there in person, he was able to watch a video stream of his son graduating.

“To have that ceremony was still something special to watch, even though you couldn’t hear the cheers, the cheers were occurring across the entire United States,” said Devan. Every family member who watched were all cheering as they watched that video. You can feel it in your heart, that you’re still a part of the team that you’re still a part of the family.”