INPERSON
An Honorable
Veteran
Bethel Park’s Haya Eason honors
veterans by honoring her own
service as a Marine.
BY W.B. FRESA
I
Haya Eason serving in the U.S. Marine
Corps, where she says she learned the skills
necessary to prepare her for life.
The one thing the military
does is give you training, but
even before that, it teaches
you how to work as a team.
You are trained to be in a
constant state of readiness.
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n February, Soldiers & Sailors Memorial
Hall & Museum Trust invited Haya Eason,
a Bethel Park resident and Marine Corps
veteran, to be a guest panelist for the annual
African-American Heritage Celebration
titled, “Black Veterans with Success: Their
History and Commitment to Excellence.”
This year highlighted the service of African-
American women.
“When I first received the invitation, I
was a little taken aback,” says Eason. “While
my family and I attended three of these
celebrations in the past, the fact that I was in
the Marine Corps for nine years is something
most people don’t know about me. So being
part of a panel to discuss my military career
was a surreal and humbling moment.”
Eason grew up in Detroit, the youngest of
five children of her Army veteran father, who
served in the Korean War, and her mother, a
Detroit Public School system teacher.
“I had a pretty good childhood but I was
shy,” notes Eason. “So in seventh grade, my
mother decided she didn’t want me to be
negatively influenced by the middle school
and high school, so she enrolled me in a
Catholic middle school that fed into an all-
girl high school close to where she taught.
Unfortunately, it was not a good experience
for my older sister and me. It was not very
nurturing, there were not many African-
Americans in the school, and we were not
Catholic.”
As the end of high school neared, Eason’s
mother asked her to think about plans after
graduation. “Most of the kids in school
seemed so sure of their future plans,” says
Eason. “But because I was a late bloomer
and felt a bit stifled in high school, I thought
college was a place to become what you
wanted to be in terms of a career. Of course,
I know now it’s also a place to help you
discover your talents. Since I didn’t feel I was
outgoing or mature enough to attend college,
I decided to look into the military.”
After taking the Armed Services Vocational
Aptitude Battery test, Eason learned she
qualified for the field of Administration. “My
mother was not at all happy. But my father,
who had served as an Army officer, knew I
would learn responsibility and independence
and said, ‘Let her go.’”
In May 1981, Eason left Detroit and
traveled to Parris Island, SC, for boot camp.
“I had no idea what to expect,” she recalls.
“I knew nothing about being in the military
because my father had not talked about
his experience during the Korean War. It
made those first months pretty hard and a
racial confrontation arose with others in my
platoon. Nothing physical, but the superior
officer decided to scold me when, actually,
I was the one who was confronted. This
incident let me know where I stood and I’d
have to speak up for myself. When I think
back on it now, even one small shred of
support from anyone around me at that time
would have made such a huge difference, but
that did not come on a regular basis until
later down the road.”
Eason was enlisted as an active duty
Marine for nine years. Her military specialty