Last night, I was saddened and shocked to read about the passing of a young man I had the honor of photographing during his journey to become a Marine. After the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11, Tony Eresman immediately found his calling and joined the United States Marine Corps. Tony passed away of PTSD at his home on August 2, 2020, at the age of 37.
What I treasure most about being a photojournalist, is the opportunity I have to be a witness. The witness of events, the witness of private moments, sometimes the witness to history. Most moments are on a smaller scale, others, like 9/11 are monumental. But each that Ive shot over the course of my 30+ year career has been a gift and shaped who I am not only as a photojournalist, but as a human being. One of these moments came unexpectedly during the final hours of a four day shoot at Parris Island, South Carolina.
Reporter Matt Katz and I traveled with local educators as well as local ‘celebrity’ Jack McGreevey (a Marine Drill Instructor himself and the father of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey) from Newark by US Marine Corp jet and were welcomed at Parris Island just as the recruits are. Journalists were thankfully left out of the yells and screams from the Drill Sergeants who tried to give educators the full treatment as they nervously lined up and marched before the start of the program.
After our introduction, we went our own way with two Staff Sergeants who stayed with us as our guides for the rest of our trip. We got to spend time with recruits and officers alike, learning how Marines prepare to defend our country. Many if not all of the Marines we met during those four days would be heading to Iraq and Afghanistan after finishing their training.
The most impressive of the training exercises was the torture test called ‘The Crucible.’ It is the final test of a Marine in recruit training and as much of a symbolic culmination of skills and knowledge as it is a physical challenge. The Crucible consists of a 54 hour field training course that emphasizes the importance of teamwork. It includes a total of 48 miles of marching, simulating combat situations, deprivation of food and sleep and if you survive the 54 hour course, you’ve become a Marine.
Along the way, we met Rich and Sue Eresman of Rockaway whose son Tony was a 19-year-old young man going through his final days as a recruit. We were lucky enough to be there for final week of recruit training referred to as “Marine Week” which consists of the Battalion Commander’s Inspection, Family Day, and Graduation.
For over 13 weeks, Tony’s mother, Sue had been apart from her son, and desperately wanting to give him a hug. The platoon instructions were very specific, ‘while wearing uniforms on the ceremonial platform, hugging was forbidden.’ These were the same orders given the day before at Family Day. At the time, during the picnic, Tony denied a hug from his mother, apologetically saying, ‘Sorry Mom, but we’re not allowed.’ The following day after the graduation, Sue’s pain drew the attention of one of Tony’s Staff Sergeants who asked her what was wrong. She mentioned the protocol of not being able to hug her new Marine. It was that moment, Staff Sgt. Benjamin Haynes turned and barked out Tony’s first order: “MARINE!! HUG YOUR MOTHER!!!”
As Tony’s father looked on, his wife got her hug. Tony’s father Rich thanked Haynes, so the staff Sergeant ordered a hug for him too, after which the proud father put his hands to his face and cried. It was an emotional moment that Tony had thought about as well. At the time saying, ‘That was great, I was waiting for that.’ Afterwards, family and friends unfurled a sign saying, ‘Tony, Believe it or not!’ an inside joke referencing the theme song of the Greatest American Hero.
I talked with Tony seven years after we had first met, I found it hard to believe the shy 19 year old was now a 26-year-old veteran combat soldier. I was amazed at what this young man had been through, and survived. He referred to his first tour of Iraq as ‘very eventful.’ As I learned more about the tour, I was startled at his humble and modest descriptions. He described to me one of the bloodiest battles of the war in the city of An Nasiriyah located in southern Iraq.
‘My unit was 1ST Battalion 2ND Marines I was a rifleman, our mission to seize two bridges for the push to Baghdad. Unfortunately we were not fighting uniformed soldiers but fighting Saddam loyalist that were wearing regular civilian clothes which made it very hard to tell who the bad guys were that we were fighting. We fought for about 2 days, but the first day were lost 18 Marines and the total of injured Marines was around 44 wounded. My unit was involved in the rescue of the 6 Army Soldiers including Jessica Lynch.’
Tony’s second deployment was again in Iraq in the city of Iskandirayah, His mission was much different the second time around, this tour, he was involved in helping set up humanitarian missions for schools and the first Democratic election in Iraq. Unfortunately, in a war zone, even this seemingly innocuous assignment was filled with danger. ‘There were always the fire fights and IEDs all the time but the main mission was to try to rebuild this country and to help these people realize how great freedom actually is. We were always going on combat patrols and turning up weapons caches and doing a lot of missions with the Iraqi police and National Guard. This deployment we lost 16 Marines again but had a lot more wounded Marines due to the IEDs and mortar attacks that would happen everyday on our base, sometimes it felt safer to be out on patrol.’
During our conversation, Tony brought up numerous time his happiness in marrying his ‘beautiful wife Nicole’ and even though he said the adjustment from combat to coming home to a normal life was ‘difficult,’ he reiterated that his life now is happier than ever. In turn, after I found Nicole through Google and contacted her asking for Tony’s contact info, she thanked me for ‘taking the time to feature my personal hero!’ Tony shared that the most difficult part of the war was the second guessing at times. Why he had made it home safe to his wife and family while some of his friends didn’t. He added,
‘Going to all the military funerals, and seeing friends laid to rest just tears you up inside, but you always just live one day at a time and always remember the good times and never forget the bad ones.’
When questioned about the good times, Tony said there were ‘too many’ to name.
Throughout four days and having shot thousands of images, the story culminated with one special moment between a mother and son. I was proud and felt privileged to be a witness to Tony Eresman’s first day as a Marine. Since that day in 2002, he had come a long way from the 19-year-old teen I met at Parris Island. A boy who dreamed of growing up and becoming a Marine, along the way, maturing into the great American hero his family always knew he was.
My deepest condolences to Rich and Sue Eresman, Tony’s wife Nicole and their two children. Army Gen. William Thornson once said, ‘There are only two kinds of people that understand Marines. Marines and the enemy. Everyone else has a second-hand opinion.’ I could never possibly understand the courage it takes to become a Marine, but I remember coming back from Parris Island commenting how proud I was and how grateful I felt having these young men and women protecting our freedom.
God bless you Tony and all our service members. Rest in power.