HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — The Fourth of July celebrations kicked off early Friday at Fort Monroe with a naturalization ceremony where immigrants from around the world recited the oath of allegiance.
Present were 98 candidates for naturalization, representing 40 nations, with 15 of them currently members of our U.S. Armed Forces.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin welcoming the newest citizens.
“I look out at all of you, and I see Americans,” Youngkin said. “I look at all of you, and I see the American dream. I look at it, all of you. And I am reminded of our collective, history that was built by Americans who came from everywhere.”
Germaine Parchment is 43 years old and came to the U.S. from Jamaica in 2016. He enlisted in the Navy three-and-a-half years ago and today is a U.S. citizen with a plan and a future.
“I plan to do 20 years in the military,” Parchment said. “And after 20 years in the military, I think I’ll go home to my home country to be a perfect example for people from my community and encourage them that they can come to this beautiful country and be whatever they want to be.”
Mark Charters moved to the U.S. from England seven years and is married to an American woman.
“I like what America stands for,” Charters said. “I believe in its principles, the culture of freedoms that we have here, and it’s something I’ve always — even when I was in England, we used to travel here regularly to America — [I’ve] always enjoyed American culture.”
Friday’s ceremony was held underneath an Algernon oak estimated to be around 500 years old and has seen plenty of history here at Fort Monroe — including the ceremony in which 98 immigrants became United States citizens.
