ROSE HALL, Guyana -- Cpl. John C. Eversley, a motor transportation operator with Special-Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force Continuing Promise 2010, had the unique opportunity to reunite with members of his extended family in Rose Hall, Guyana, Oct. 22.
The reunion was made possible through Eversley’s involvement in humanitarian civic assistance mission Operation Continuing Promise 2010, which has brought aid to several countries throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America.
Eversley, a native of Baltimore, Md., is the son of a Guyanese father who emigrated to the U.S. in the early 1980s. At age 16, Eversley traveled to Guyana for the first time to meet face to face with his relatives.
“That was the first and last time I visited Guyana,” said Eversley, who is now 25. “If it wasn’t for deploying to this region, I don’t know when the next time would have been for me to see my family in Guyana.”
Eversley is stationed out of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C. He embarked aboard USS Iwo Jima in July of 2010 with his parent command, Marine Air Control Squadron 2, as the command element of a Special-Purpose MAGTF to support CP10.
“My leadership was highly supportive of me reuniting with my family,” said Eversley. “They made all the arrangements necessary to make this reunion possible and set up a good location for me to meet with my family.”
On Oct 22, Eversley was manifested on a CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter belonging to Special-Purpose MAGTF Air Combat Element HMM-774 from Naval Base Norfolk, Va., and transported from the USS Iwo Jima to a landing zone outside an engineering project in Central Corentyne Secondary School in Rose Hall, Guyana.
While a team of Navy Seabees and Logistic Combat Element Marine engineers worked on repairing the secondary school, Eversley walked through the construction site to a courtyard where his family was already waiting to embrace him.
“Everything came together like clockwork,” said Margie Eversley, John’s aunt. “You can’t describe in words how much we appreciate this opportunity to see John.”
Eversley was reunited with his uncle Thomas Eversley, his aunt Margie and his cousin Buddy. They were given the entire day to spend time together to catch up and enjoy one another’s company.
This included Eversley sharing his Meal Ready to Eat with them and relating his experiences in the Corps and his pride of serving in the U.S. military.
“John is a remarkable young man who makes us all very proud,” said Thomas Eversley. “Seeing him in uniform and while serving on a humanitarian mission in the place of his roots is the greatest way for an uncle to see the nephew he loves so dearly.”
Eversley’s family lives in Georgetown, Guyana, which is approximately two hours driving distance from the construction site where the reunion took place. Thomas Eversley even took a day off of work as a prominent medical technician for the reunion.
“It was well worth the trip,” said Maggie Eversley. “This is something that can happen only once in a lifetime.”
Later in the afternoon, Eversley said goodbye to his relatives and boarded a helicopter with hands and backpack full of gifts brought by his family. Eversley is slated to return to MCAS Cherry Point in mid November and plans to take leave to Guyana and visit other relatives at some point in the near future.