Lieutenant Realizes Dream of Becoming U.S. Citizen
(March 6, 2009) | 
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A smiling Army 2nd Lt. Memorina Edwin Barnes, center, chats with a
fellow soldier just before a naturalization ceremony at al-Faw
Palace on Victory Base Complex, Iraq, March 3, 2009. Along with 250
other servicemembers, Barnes became a U.S. citizen at the ceremony. |
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VICTORY BASE COMPLEX, Iraq, March 4, 2009
A flood of memories and emotion rushed through the
mind of the executive officer for the 1st Cavalry Division's Headquarters
Service Company, Division Special Troops Battalion, as she reflected on the
sacrifices it took to achieve her dream of becoming an American citizen.
Along with 250 other servicemembers --
soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines -- Army 2nd Lt. Memorina Edwin
Barnes recited the Oath of U.S. Citizenship to become a naturalized
citizen during a Multinational Corps Iraq naturalization ceremony
yesterday at al-Faw Palace here.
Amid a sea of servicemembers who represented
many different countries and cultures, Barnes -- a native of Pohnpei,
an island of the Federated States of Micronesia -- received a U.S.
flag and her certificate of citizenship at the ceremony. |
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“I was overwhelmed and felt a surge of pride,” the lieutenant
said. “When I was presented the flag, a million things were floating through my
head -- so many memories about growing up and getting to where I am today. I
couldn't believe this moment was actually here.
“I was trying hard not to cry, and wished my family could have been here to see
this,” she continued. “I could finally say, ‘I'm fighting for MY country.'”
Though her husband -- a soldier stationed back at Fort Hood, Texas -- and her
4-year-old son, Darren, and 2-year-old daughter, Olivia, could not take part in
the ceremony, Barnes said they were there in spirit and that she leaned on
support from her unit.
“I am surrounded by people here who I call family,” she said. “Everyone has been
very supportive, and almost my entire unit was there for the ceremony.”
Her husband was able to congratulate her over the phone. “He's very proud and
wishes he could have been here for the ceremony,” Barnes said.
The significance of getting her citizenship in Iraq is not lost on Barnes.
“I'm going to give 20 years of service to the U.S. Army, and I would give my
life so my kids can be citizens of a free country,” she said. “This reinforces
the reasons I'm here in Iraq in the first place.”
Still, she said, she realizes she was only a small part of the ceremony. “Every
soldier who received their citizenship today took steps long before this to get
their citizenship, and we all served our nation even before we could call it
home.”
Many years prior to her service in the Army, the seeds of Barnes seeking the
American dream were planted during her difficult early years as a child on
Pohnpei.
“Life in Micronesia was hard. We went to school, but not every day, and we
always wore hand-me-down clothes, but half the time we didn't have shoes,”
Barnes said. “We always had to share, and food came in very small portions.”
With no running water, her family bathed in a creek, she added. “We had to live
off the land, growing vegetables, and there was no money most of the time,” she
said. Along with this, Barnes walked three miles to school over rough terrain
where there were no paved roads.
With all the hardships of living on the island, Barnes said, her family saw
something special in the United States, and wanted to be part of it.
“My grandfather was always a great admirer of the U.S., and always spoke very
highly of it,” Barnes said. “He'd be really proud of me if he were still alive.”
Even before she was a U.S. citizen, Barnes said, the U.S. national anthem always
sent a chill up her spine.
In 1988, when she was 13, Barnes and her family left Pohnpei for Kaneohe,
Hawaii, where she spent her teenage years and first tasted the American dream --
a dream that promised more freedom and better opportunities for her family.
Through the years as an immigrant in Hawaii, Barnes said, she overcame prejudice
and unfair, false and negative stereotypes.
“A lot of people don't understand that it's not money [immigrants] are seeking,
but rather the opportunity to better themselves,” she said. “The majority of
immigrants [who come to the United States] are hard-working people, willing to
make sacrifices for the freedoms they don't have in their own country.”
Barnes, who now has 15 years of military service, said she worked hard
throughout high school and then entered the Army at the age of 19 as a private.
“I worked my way up, and I did a lot of the jobs no one else wanted to do,” she
said. “I didn't have a plush job, and just had to keep soldiering on.”
By the time Barnes reached 13 years of service in the Army, she had achieved the
rank of sergeant first class, completed a bachelor's degree and turned in a
packet to become an officer. In 2007, Barnes received her commission as a second
lieutenant in the Army's chemical branch.
Army Lt. Col. Matthew Karres, her battalion commander, said Barnes exudes the
spirit of an American patriot and is someone who definitely deserves U.S.
citizenship, especially when looking at all her hard work and sacrifices she
made over the years.
“As a second-generation American who is a grandson of immigrants, I think this
is awesome,” said Karres, reflecting on Barnes receiving her citizenship. “We're
all really proud of her. She's also getting promoted this month, so March is a
big month for her.”
Along with having pride in being an American citizen, Barnes said, she also will
never forget her Pohnpeian culture and will pass that down to her children. And
with both her children being native-born U.S. citizens, she added, she also will
remind them of the sacrifices immigrants and others have made for them to have
their freedom -- a freedom that many people living in other countries around the
world might never experience.
“I'll definitely tell them to never take the country they live in for granted,
and to be proud of and loyal to the [United States].” | |
Article and photo by Army Staff Sgt. Jon Cupp
Multinational Division Baghdad public affairs office
Special to American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2009
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