BARSTOW, Calif. -- Although the distance from his Caribbean homeland to the United States is only roughly 1,000 miles by airplane, the journey Staff Sgt. Angel C. DeJesus took from his humble beginnings as a child in the Dominican Republic to earning American citizenship as an adult may have seemed like a trip to another galaxy entirely.
Raised in the modest municipality of Consuelo, DeJesus, a Marine currently stationed aboard Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow, Calif., spent the first 14 years of his life in a loving environment, surrounded by family and friends.
“I had a lot of fun as a kid,” he said. I lived in a small town where the production of sugar cane and cattle were the main industries. Everyone knew one another and it was just a fun place to grow up.”
Soon enough, however, the young teenager was faced with a move he wasn’t initially enthusiastic about.
“At first I was very upset when I found out my family was moving to the United States,” remarked DeJesus. “I hated the idea of coming to America and leaving behind my friends, members of my family and my town.”
One thing was certain— the young man was headed to a place with a reputation that preceded it.
“Coming from a Third World country, I had heard a lot about America before I went there,” said the 29-year-old Marine. “I was told it was the land of opportunity and a place where you could come to find a future and live a good life.”
“People also said that in America, money grew on trees,” he added with a smile.
According to DeJesus, arriving to his new home of Atlanta quickly turned the young man’s bitterness about leaving the Dominican Republic into feelings of surprise and amazement.
“The biggest impression landing in Atlanta at night had on me was how big everything was,” he said. “The buildings in the city and all the lights were things I had never seen before.”
“I was really impressed and suddenly not so upset about leaving home,” he continued.
Although not yet fluent in English and living in a place that at the time contained little or no Hispanic flavor, DeJesus nonetheless adapted to his surroundings and made friends quickly.
Within six months he had learned enough of his new language to carry on conversations in high school, albeit with a self-professed “thick accent.”
In fact, it was one of the young Dominican’s high school buddies who influenced him to alter his career path in life.
“I was originally planning on going to college after high school and then working with my dad at his club,” he said. “But one day my friend came back from boot camp wearing his Marine Corps Dress Blues. He told me his boot camp stories and I was sold.”
“It was a quick decision,” Dejesus added. “One minute I was talking to my friend and the next day I was going to see the recruiter.”
After joining the Corps and completing his first four-year enlistment, the Atlanta resident decided make a career of the military, which led to another monumental decision in his life.
“Returning to the Dominican Republic and becoming an American citizen were both always in the back of my mind,” he said. “But after I decided to become a career Marine, I knew it was time to become a citizen of this great country of ours.”
Initially putting off the naturalization process for five years because of Dominican pride, nostalgia and not wanting to be considered a traitor to his homeland by becoming a citizen of another country, Dejesus finally submitted his application for citizenship and three months later on Dec. 18, 2009 was sworn in as an American citizen.
“There was a lot of excitement for me leading up to the actual swearing in,” said the Headquarters Battalion administrative chief. “Now not only am I serving this country, I’m officially a part of it.”
Following the completion of his own personal journey, Dejesus is now helping a fellow Barstow Marine take a similar path to citizenship; Lance Cpl. Raul Lopez, a 21-year-old supply clerk with HQBN.
“When I got to Barstow I went to the Base Adjutant’s office and received the paperwork and instructions I needed to get started with the citizenship process,” said Lopez, a Miami native, who was born in the Cuban province of Ciego de Avila. “Staff Sergeant Dejesus immediately volunteered to guide me through the process.”