Harry Chaires and his wife, Nan Cuchens, recently traveled to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., to see their nephew graduate from boot camp. It was a bittersweet trip for the couple from Tallahassee, Fla., because it brought back memories of the day they watched another new Marine walk that same parade deck.
Their son, Lance Cpl. Daniel Chaires, was killed in action during a 2006 deployment to Haditha, Iraq. He was an infantry rifleman with Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. And the Marine left quite the impression on his young cousin, Anthony Cuchens Jr.
Cuchens joined the Corps as a way to honor his cousin. He graduated boot camp as a private first class aboard the recruit depot on Feb. 1.
Cuchens is already finding out what people mean when the call the Marine Corps small. When he sat in a squad bay during the first phase of boot camp, he realized he had a special connection to his senior drill instructor.
Check out the video by Colin Kelly, senior video journalist, for more on the Chaires/Cuchens family and the connection they have to Parris Island. And be sure to pick up this week’s issue of Marine Corps Times for the full story on the “Legacy of Lance Cpl. Chaires.”
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