Navy Seaman Shakeerah L. McGill, daughter of Darlene and Wilbert K. McGill of Lakewood, recently returned from an eight-month deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom while assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, homeported in San Diego. McGill’s ship was the first to deploy with the new F/A-18F Super Hornet (two-seat version) and E-2C Hawkeye 2000 aircraft. The Nimitz flew more than 6,500 missions and used 125,000 pounds of ordnance in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
During the deployment McGill’s ship visited ports in Dubai and Singapore. While in Singapore the Nimitz’s Religious Ministries Department coordinated a community-service project designed to lend a helping hand to the local community and strengthen ties between both cultures.
McGill’s ship also raised $2,500 for the USS Missouri Memorial that will assist in restoration of the chief petty officer spaces and the founding of a Chief Petty Officer’s museum. McGill is a 1997 graduate of Lakewood High School and joined the Navy in June 2001.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Stephen G. Lanham, son of Annette B. and Wayne E. Lanham of the New Egypt section of Plumsted, and Marine Corps Cpl. Stephen M. Gronsky, son of Kathleen Kennedy of Howell and Stephen F. Gronsky of Castle Rock, Colo., are currently on deployment while assigned to the 13th Marine Expedi-tionary Unit (MEU), home based in Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Members of Lanham’s and Gronsky’s unit recently completed operations in Iraq. The MEU conducted more than 300 patrols in Southern Iraq, including 50 by the MEU’s boat company. Lanham’s unit also trained local police in the set-up of security checkpoints, confiscated weapons and destroyed more than 2,000 rounds of ordnance.
Lanham is a 2002 graduate of Allentown High School and joined the Marine Corps in July 2002.
Gronsky is a 1997 graduate of Franklin High School, Somerset, and joined the Marine Corps in June 1999.