Boynton Beach's Turner all fired up for Army's 'battle' against Navy

Randall Mell | Golf/College Football Columnist

December 5, 2008

Boynton Beach's Justin Turner knows how passionately his military brethren around the world care about Saturday's 109th Army vs. Navy football game.

A junior running back for the Black Knights, Turner has heard the inspiring tales of how American servicemen gathered in the dark in Europe during air raids in 1944 to listen to the radio broadcast of the game.

He has heard about General Douglas MacArthur's famous telegram to Army coach Red Blaik afterward.

"We have stopped the war to celebrate your magnificent success," wrote MacArthur, the commander in the Pacific and a former Army team manager.

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Turner will swell with emotion during kickoff Saturday in Philadelphia knowing what this game means with soldiers at war listening overseas.

"When I got here, Bobby Ross was our coach, and he told us he was in Super Bowls and national championship games and nothing compared to the Army-Navy game," said Turner, a former standout at American Heritage in Delray Beach.

Turner learned right away as a plebe at West Point how seriously the game is taken. He was stopped his first year on a pathway to class when an upperclassmen demanded that he tell him the exact number of days remaining "until we beat the hell out of Navy."

It's a number every plebe's trained to know when he gets out of bed in the morning.

Every one of Turner's civil engineering classes this fall began with cadets screaming the same words: "Beat Navy."

Anticipation is especially intense this fall because Army (3-8) is looking to break a Navy (7-4) run of six consecutive victories in the series, unprecedented in a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1890.

Turner's an engineering psychology major. Before this season, in an affirmation ceremony, he accepted his commitment to five years of active military duty upon graduation. He's working to become an Apache helicopter pilot.

"I've always wanted to serve in the military," Turner said. "I want to give back to my country, to defend the people I love. Someone has to do it, why not me?"

Turner's parents don't have military backgrounds. His father, Leroy, is a machinist with Namasco steel manufacturer in Pompano Beach. His mother, Bridgette, is a secretary with the Palm Beach County School District. They were wary when Justin first told them he wanted to go to West Point.

"Our first reaction was, 'No, no, no, Justin, don't you dare,'" Bridgette said. "Making the commitment to serve, with a war going on, you don't want to encourage your son to go to war. We told him not to even think about it."

But the parents did think about it, carefully, and researched the choice as thoroughly as their son did.

"Researching it, understanding what West Point stands for, the benefits of an education there, we thought he had a really good plan and that it was his best choice," Bridgette said.

"Of course, our prayers are that this war will be over, and he won't have to go to war. He's very intelligent and he works so tremendously hard there and we're very proud of him."

Randall Mell can be reached at rmell@SunSentinel.com