This Father’s Day – which also comes during the 250th anniversary year of the Army, Navy, and Marines – two Naperville military fathers reflect on their children’s journeys in the armed forces.
“I’ll never forget the day he got his acceptance letter for the service academy,” said Mayor Scott Wehrli, describing the bittersweet moment his son was accepted into West Point Military Academy. “There’s this big black envelope, and I knew what that meant, but at the same time, it really scared the heck out of me, because now it got real.”
Serving in the Army
Sam Wehrli is now in his third year as a paratrooper and Field Artillery Officer for the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne.
“You feel it in all sorts of different ways,” said Wehrli. “There’s pride. There’s the worry about what is he putting himself into and the leadership responsibilities he has as an officer in the Army, 24 years old. That’s a lot. So he’s grown up really, really fast.”
The call of duty in the Navy
Tom Benton shares a similar sentiment about his daughter, Angela, a Naperville Central High School graduate now serving in the U.S. Navy.
“I still look at her as my little girl,” said Benton, a Marine veteran himself. “I’ve watched her mature and her determination and her leadership and her focus and she’s very focused and passionate about what she’s doing.”
Angela would go on to study medicine at the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences, now in her third year while on active duty.
“She absolutely loves it,” said Benton. “The training that they get in military medicine is much broader than you would get in civilian medicine because it has to be. You’re working with mass trauma cases, severe injuries.”
Drawing inspiration from Naperville
Both Benton and Mayor Wehrli share that their children drew inspiration from the Naperville community.
“He was there for a lot of these dedications of different military recognitions here in the community, and I can kind of see this little glimmer in his eye of an idea that he was taking this very seriously, and he really was recognizing what he could potentially do to serve,” Wehrli said.
“Naperville is a very patriotic community, so she saw the respect that the community was giving to Naperville veterans,” said Benton. “I think that instilled in her that the military was always an option.”
Different paths, similar calling, with proud military fathers
While their children are in different branches of the armed forces, Wehrli and Benton share a common bond as military dads, proud of the sacrifices their son and daughter are making.
“My son’s name was the first Wehrli in the book of graduates at the service academy, and he’s now part of this very historic, part of the, the U.S. Army, it’s really awe-inspiring,” said Wehrli.
“As a father to me, to see young people focused on careers that are military-centric, giving 100% of themselves to this country, couldn’t be prouder than that,” said Benton.
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