MINOT, ND (KXNET) — Shaun Lewellyn is a Magic City native and has been an active member of the Minot Shriners Club for the last five years.

The Marine Corps veteran, who spends a lot of time planning fundraisers for children in the community, has a story similar to many veterans.

Lewellyn says he knew he always wanted to serve in the military, because of his family’s military heritage. He saw his chance to enlist in the Marines as a motor transport operator after graduating high school in 2000.

“I know when I graduated I ended up talking to several recruiters trying to figure which was the best branch I wanted to serve and I ended up deciding to join the Marine Corps. There was a lot about it that appealed to me,” said Lewellyn.

After completing 13 weeks of basic training at San Diego MCRD, as well as job specialty training, Lewellyn’s unit was deployed to Iraq in 2003.

In that eight-month deployment, Lewellyn’s unit provided operational support for different army units and other foreign military units.

“We would protect other marines and I know we had some army and some British military that was around us which was pretty cool because we were all able to come together but basically our goal was to go through, clear the path, make sure it was a safe passage to get all the way through. It took us a long time to go from point a to point b because we had to go through all the different towns,” said Lewellyn.

Lewellyn’s unit, tasked with helping secure Iraq’s oil fields and oil wells, experienced the brunt of the fighting during the Iraq War.

“There was a lot of rounds coming around a lot of shrapnel stuff like that and luckily I was protected with our equipment but I looked down cause I would be laying straight down on the ground and I would look up and I would see shrapnel hitting all around me,” said Lewellyn.

At the end of Lewellyn’s deployment, he found adjusting to civilian life difficult due to being in such a high-stress environment for so long.

“It’s kind of the old saying flight or fight you know when you’re in that situation, you don’t have time to run the other way so to speak, you have a job, you have a mission to do and you do the best you can to get through that mission,” said Lewellyn.

Since his time in the Marine Corps, Lewellyn says being around other service members and finding ways to help others in the community has helped him the most.

“I have always been around military members regardless of any branch. Anything I have done job-wise I still do a lot of different volunteer services that definitely helps myself as an individual and it gives me the opportunity to continuously give back to the community,” said Lewellyn.

Those who sacrifice will always try to keep serving.

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