Three Virginia brothers made history when they became the first black triplets to enlist together in the Navy.
The youngest, Adrion Sutton, was the first of two brothers and sisters, 20, to start talking about joining the Navy in high school – a decision his parents made years earlier, reports ABC’s GMA3.
“What motivated me to join was hearing my parents talk about how good the Navy was when we were growing up and seeing my dad come home from long months, not being at home and taking care of the family,” Adrion told GMA3.
Adrion and his siblings, brother Ayrion and sister Andrea, who hail from the Western Branch neighborhood of Chesapeake, according to local broadcaster WKRG, didn’t plan on applying at first, but he says it ended up happening.
The three’s decision to enlist in the Navy also inspired their father, Andre Sutton, to enlist again.
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Andre and his wife, Tiffany Sutton, met aboard the USS Arctic in 1999, a week before they left for deployment. She spotted him while he was headed to the mess deck.
“I walked past him, and I thought I saw sunshine,” Tiffany told GMA3. “I even called my mom and told her I found my husband.”
Andre, from Allentown, Pennsylvania, joined the Navy to escape the limited future that awaited him while growing up on the projects.
“I love the people [in Allentown]. I love the town. You know, I’m grateful,” he told GMA3. “But that environment is not where I wanted to be in life, so I decided to go forward.”
He joined the Merchant Marine after serving in the Navy for over ten years. But André returns to the reserve to “minister with my children,” adding that his children “have inspired him.”
He currently serves as a Captain in the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
In February, WKRG reported that Ayrion was based in Norfolk, Virginia and Andrea was based in Oceana, Virginia Beach. At this point, Adrion had not yet received his quest.
