Legionnaire helps teen get GED to join Marines

For nearly 10 years, Legionnaire and Army veteran Jim Lindenmayer has been providing a hand up for homeless veterans living in Cherokee County, the sixth largest veteran community in the state of Georgia with over 16,000 veterans. Lindenmayer is director of the Cherokee County Homeless Veterans Program, which provides help with food, housing, clothing, Veteran Affairs benefits claims and more. It’s because of his experience that Lindenmayer was introduced to a homeless teenager who wanted to serve in the U.S. Marines.

However, there was an issue. The teenager to did not meet a requirement of the U.S. Marines to join – a high school diploma or equivalent of.

Life for 18-year-old Alex Williams of Canton, Ga., has not been easy. He has lived in and out of foster care, group homes and with family members due to his parents being unable to care for him and his siblings. And early in his senior year at Cherokee High School in Canton, Ga., Williams dropped out.

“It all just wore me down,” Williams told Joseph Bennett with the Cherokee Tribune. “I lost any sense of purpose. I didn’t know what goals to set for myself or where to turn. I wanted discipline in my life, and I thought I could find that in the Marines.”

It was with hopes that Lindenmayer could help Williams get his GED. 

Lindenmayer, who also serves as a service officer for American Legion Post 45 in Canton, said that “with Alex coming into our (CCHV) program we wanted to make sure that 1. he understood what and how we could help him; 2. we were going to treat him as if he was like any other veteran and not a homeless kid; 3. we were going to introduce him to the Marine Corps with the help of the local Marine Corps League; 4. his moving forward was all up to him – we could help but he had to do the work; and 5. what we do is not charity. Rather, we pay things forward.”

Lindenmayer introduced Williams to the Marine Corps League, the nonprofit FOCUS that conducts classes for the General Education Development test and many others who could help him along his path to military service. And through CCHVP, the cost of Williams to live in a motel while he studied, food, GED fees and other incidentals were all covered.  

“As a former Army officer, I treated Alex just like I would have had he been in my troop,” Lindenmayer said.  “I informed him of our expectations and that we were there to help.  I also made it known that he had to do the work and prep for the exams.”

A Marine veteran who was a teacher helped prep Williams for the four GED exams, while Lindenmayer never left his side.  “I would call him daily or pick him up from the hotel and bring him to the Legion post to test prep so that we knew he was on tract,” said Lindenmayer, who spent three weeks with Williams. 

And for Williams to understand what his new life and family in the Marines will be like, the Marine Corps League Detachment 1311 from Woodstock, Ga., invited him to one of their events to meet and talk with other Marines.  Rich Sabo, detachment commandant of the Marine Corps League in Cherokee County, also spoke with Williams “so that he could keep the Marine point of view alive with Alex,” Lindenmayer said.  “By about the second or third week, Alex realized that our discussions of the military as being a family, but a different special family, started to ring true with him.”

As pressure remained that Williams passed all GED exams, Lindenmayer worked it out with FOCUS to obtain word of his passing as boot camp was quickly starting.

Williams passed. But he wasn’t quite in the clear.

“The Marine Corps required hard copies of his diploma and all we had was a screen shot of his passing and qualifying as a GED graduate.”  Lindenmayer drove Williams to downtown Atlanta on a Friday afternoon to pick up a copy of his transcripts and diploma. “While I was driving us back to his hotel, Alex took pictures of his transcript and diploma and texted it to his recruiter.”

On Friday, Aug. 30, during their one of many lunches together, Williams informed Lindenmayer that he was leaving for Marine Corps training in Paris Island, S.C., in two days. “Over that weekend I called him and reinforced that he needed to run 3 to 5 miles a day to get ready, and also to make sure that he was not afraid of taking the next step.”

Williams left for boot camp on Sept. 1.

“We are waiting to hear of his mailing address so those of us, over 25 who helped him, could check on his status,” Lindenmayer said. “We are already planning on taking a road trip to his graduation from boot camp in mid-December.”

Prior to leaving for boot camp, Lindenmayer hosted a luncheon with a Marine Corps cake for Williams to celebrate his achievements.

“It was to show him that people cared about him maybe for the first time in his life,” Lindenmayer said. “He did the work. He did what we asked him to do, and he passed all expectations and tests we put him through. I saw it as a celebration of his next life and new family – the Marine Corps.  It was a great win for our team and program to see him move forward. 

“I am glad Alex was a great kid and did not let what has happened to him in his life be a crutch or stumbling point moving forward with his life. He may not have had the best family life growing up, but he has a new family that is pulling for him and wants only what is best for him.”