What started out as a routine deployment on the USS Peleliu quickly became much more for Benjamin Whitlock, his fellow Marines in the 15th MEU (Military Expedition Unit) and all of their families last Sept. 11.
Ben, a 1999 graduate of Lake Highlands High School, had just set out from his home at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Aug. 13 for what was intended to be a six-month deployment. They were at port in Darwin, Australia, when news of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks reached them Sept. 12.
Ben says his reaction was immediate. “I was mad, scared and looking for payback.”
Both Heather, Ben’s wife of almost a year, and Janet Gardner, his mother, said they immediately thought of him when they heard about the attacks.
“The whole country was turned upside down. I just wanted Benj home,” recalls Janet, a neighborhood resident who is the school nurse at the Lake Highlands Freshman Center.
“I knew, deep inside, somehow this was going to affect my husband,” says Heather, a 2000 graduate of Plano Senior High School.
Ben’s ship left Australia that night, but the troops didn’t yet know where they were going. They didn’t find out until a few days later that they were headed toward Afghanistan. While they had e-mail access on the ship, the men could not reveal classified information, such as where they were going. The Whitlock family could only watch the news and wait.
However, on Sept. 16, Ben was allowed to call Heather. It was their first wedding anniversary.
“Ben called and told me that, at some point, he was going in. What an anniversary present,” Heather says ruefully. “That’s always your biggest fear. It’s a wonderful thing to say – my husband fights for my country, or, God forbid, died for my country – but it’s never something you want to say or think will happen to you.”
E-mail access and postal service from the boat were maintained while Ben stayed on his ship in the Arabian Sea outside Afghanistan for four months. However, the e-mail policy stayed very strict for security purposes.
At the beginning of December, Ben found out he and his fellow troops were going on the ground. He was allowed to call his family, but all he could say was, “I’m going to get to do my job,” Janet recalls.
“He did say ‘pray hard for me,’” Janet says. She says Ben has always been religious, but this was a “little different.”
“I don’t think we ever considered he would be in harm’s way (when he joined the Marines),” Janet says.
Ben, who was part of 1st Battalion/1st Marine division, ended up in Pakistan for about three weeks. Although he can’t discuss much of what he did, he could say he brought supplies from the ship to the base so they could be taken to Kandahar and other places. During the time he was on-ground, all outside communication was cut off.
“The unknown is tough, when they go on-ground, and we have no contact, and have no idea what they’re doing,” Janet says. She says she learned to develop a balance between keeping track of the news and Ben, and keeping up with the rest of her life and her other son, Matthew, who graduated from Lake Highlands High School in May.
“For three or four weeks, I knew absolutely nothing. I didn’t know what he was doing or the next time I would hear my husband’s voice,” Heather recalls.
That next time proved to be 5 a.m. on Christmas day at her parents’ house in Plano.
“It was such a relief…it kinda made me feel like a little kid again. That Christmas gift was very needed. The call saying he was back on the ship was even better, because that meant he was coming home.”
From Pakinstan, the USS Peleliu went to Australia, Hawaii and then back to California. Janet flew out to California to be there for Ben’s homecoming with Heather.
She says the homecoming was “phenomenal,” like in a movie.
“It’s patriotic times 10 on a base. I expected June and Ward Cleaver to walk up,” Janet laughs. “I was so thrilled to be there. As soon as I saw him, I would’ve been OK with not seeing him again until a few weeks later.
“It was really emotional. These are kids who don’t know what a hero is, but coming back in the hero role,” Janet says.
Upon his return, Ben went on a 15-day leave. Although he wore civilian clothing during that time, Janet says people still recognized him as a member of the military and would come up and thank him for serving the country.
“Everybody came together, more patriotic. They came together as one person,” Ben says.
During his leave, Ben came to Dallas for a big welcome-home party. He also met some of the people who supported him while he was on his deployment. Janet says the Freshman Center “kind of adopted him.” They sent several care packages with letters, cards, sweets, games, coffee, books and other items.
“They sent all the stuff that doesn’t help world peace, but makes you feel closer to home,” Janet laughs.
Ben shared his goodies with his shipmates, so Janet said that the school felt like the USS Peleliu was “their” ship.
Students and faculty were eager to have some kind of connection to what was going on in and around Afghanistan, Janet says. She was amazed to find how many people had a connection to the military and could sympathize with what Janet and her family were going through.
Ben is now nearing the end of his four years of duty, but says he plans to re-enlist. He wants to try and move to a different unit, but there is also a chance that he could be sent back overseas, a fact he regards pragmatically.
“If I gotta go, I gotta go,” he says.
Now Matthew, who will start at Texas A&M in the fall, is considering joining the Corps.
Though she says she wasn’t thrilled at first when Ben signed up, she is now “the best Marine mom.”
“Benj has always been patriotic… He is 100 percent American blood,” Janet says. “I’m proud of him, and I’m glad he’s back on U.S. soil.”
