Brothers follow in grandfathers' footsteps
Andrew Pierre and his brother, Jimmy Pierre, of Middlesex Township grew up hearing World War II stories from their grandfather on their mother's side. And on their father's side, they grew up with a second grandfather who also served in the military during that period.
“A couple years ago, we found a scrapbook from his time served and it was kind of cool to look through and it inspired me as well,” said Andrew, who is 18, of his grandfather on his mother's side, Edward Murphy.
Murphy is still alive at age 102, and Andrew said he worked on planes and repairs during his time in the U.S. Navy. On their father's side, Frank Pierre, 92, who also served in the Navy, is also still alive.
So, it was no surprise when the two brothers decided to join the Navy.
Andrew was 13 years old when he came across Murphy's scrapbook. He said Murphy served in Hawaii and the Pacific, and the pictures depicted his grandfather going about his daily life at various bases in the Navy and working on planes.Andrew recalled this discovery in May, having just finished his first year — or plebe year — as a midshipman in the U.S. Naval Academy. Jimmy, who is 21 years old, recently enrolled at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.“Finding that scrapbook sealed the deal,” Andrew said. “He talked about it like it was yesterday, knew everybody's names. It was incredible — he remembered everything after all these years. It showed how big of an influence it had on his life and how it turned him into the man he is, and that was something I wanted to do.”For Jimmy, the decision to go in the Navy was a practical one. He said the photos that captivated Andrew's imagination weren't his inspiration.
“I like the benefits of the military while practicing medicine,” Jimmy said. “There's a lot of change in the military. You learn combat medicine, advanced practices that you wouldn't learn at private medical school. Tuition-free is extremely nice, too.”Jimmy said he was getting ready to go to a private medical school until recently. He graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland with a degree in biology.“My little brother going to the Naval Academy put it in my head. I had never thought about it before,” Jimmy said. “For me, if you ask my friends or family, they would never peg me for a military guy, but Andrew said the experience was so great. I even surprised myself. If you told me a year ago I was joining the military, I'd be surprised.”Andrew said after graduating from Mars Area High School, he decided to go down this path because he wanted similar experiences as his grandfather Murphy.Earlier this year, he was on spring break when the coronavirus pandemic began to spread. They were told not to return to school as a result. Andrew finished the remainder of his school year online, but he missed an end-of-the-year transition that marks a plebe's rise to an upper classman.At any other time, Andrew would be preparing to climb the Herndon Monument, a 21-foot-tall gray granite obelisk that is greased at the end of the school year for upper freshmen to climb as part of an initiation.“Now, the upper classes will say I didn't actually finish plebe year,” Andrew said. “And there's a good chance they won't hold it again once classes start up.”During the Herndon Monument Climb, the freshmen class works together to scale the greased monument to put their class hat on top of it.Andrew doesn't know how his classes next semester will be held, but one thing he's sure is that he wants to be a pilot.“It seemed like a really cool community to me,” he said.
