Brothers in arms: 3 Pearl River siblings, inspired by community, join Marines

PEARL RIVER − Maureen and Dan Costello Sr. have two daughters and three sons.

Kylie, 22, is a volunteer EMT. Tara, 16, attends Albertus Magnus High School, where Maureen teaches theology.

Dan Jr., 24, goes by "Danny." James, 20, goes by "Jimmy." John, 18, goes by "Johnny."

But all three Costello sons answer to "Marine."

Danny's a 2nd lieutenant. Jimmy's just been promoted to corporal. Johnny, fresh from boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina, has moved on to infantry training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, where he's a private.

On a bright fall afternoon last week, Danny and Johnny sat down on their parents' back deck in their Pearl River neighborhood, a literal stone's throw from the Jersey line, and talked about the choice they'd made to join up. Jimmy was running late from class at SUNY Rockland and sent his apologies, answering a few questions later via email.

'A community of service and sacrifice'

The Costello brothers weren't responding to a long-standing family tradition of donning the eagle, globe and anchor emblem of the Marine Corps.

Their uncle Kevin is a Marine (one is never a "former" Marine), and there were cousins and other distant relatives, sure. But the Costellos weren't really a military family — until they hit the Marine trifecta. They were answering their own call, the sons said, a call that had more to do with where they were raised, and by whom, than a family tradition.

"Pearl River is definitely a community of service and sacrifice, with a plethora of first responders living here, whether it's firefighters, police officers, EMS workers," Danny said. "I think we were just drawn to seeing the men and women in our community making sacrifices."

That included their father, Det. Sgt. Daniel Costello Sr., with 32 years on the Orangetown Police Department, after a few with the New York City Housing Police.

"I wasn't surprised," their detective father said. "They make their own good decisions. I'm proud of the decisions that they're making. Me and my wife are proud of them. Service to the country, I think that's important. If someone makes that decision, and they want to do it, we're 100% supportive of them."

Still, they said, there was no A-ha moment. It came with the Pearl River territory, with being raised in Rockland, they said.

"I don't think that there was ever a clear cut conversation or a moment in time where I was like, 'This is what I want to do,'" Danny says. "We just always grew up knowing we wanted to be helping people out. This was always a collective kind of thing."

They could have been firefighters. They could have been EMTs like their sister, Kylie. They could have followed their father into the police ranks.

Beating a path to Parris Island, and Quantico

But all three chose the Marine Corps. Johnny and Jimmy wasted no time, shipping off for Parris Island a couple of weeks after they walked in their Pearl River High School graduations.

Jimmy blazed the trail, leaving for Parris Island two weeks after he graduated in 2021.

"It definitely was not a difficult decision for me," he said. "I always knew I wanted to be a Marine and serve my country. I just didn’t know when. When I got to junior year (at Pearl River High School) I knew it was the right time for me.

"No one ever questioned what I did," he said. "My friends always knew I wanted to join but I think they never thought I was going to do it. I did, and they were nothing but supportive and they knew that I truly wanted it.

Still, he said: "People definitely looked at me differently for it."

When he reported to boot camp, "I really didn’t know what to expect so it really wasn’t that bad, but I was definitely afraid of the unknown."

'A powerful sign'

Danny earned his bachelor's degree at St. Thomas Aquinas College just as Jimmy was graduating from Pearl River High. He signed up for Officers Candidate School in Quantico, Virginia, reporting on a day he considers significant: Sept. 11, 2021.

"I think that was a powerful sign, being a New Yorker, leaving on Sept. 11th, 20 years to the day from when it happened," Danny said. "That was very powerful for me. I kind of felt like, 'OK, God's telling me that we're doing this for a reason.'"

Serving in the military isn't a common post-high-school choice in these parts.

Jimmy, a high school wrestler, was the only one in his graduating class to sign up. Johnny, who wrestled and ran hurdles and pole vaulted in high school, said he's one of two in his class to choose a military route. (The other, Daniel Hooker, is two weeks behind Johnny, slated to finish boot camp Oct. 20.) Danny, who was a theater kid, graduated from St. Joseph Regional High School in Montvale in 2017, and isn't sure about whether any of his classmates enlisted.

Their high school passions — wrestling, track and theater — instilled something in them that applies to the Marines, Danny said. "You realize every single person's part plays an integral role to the mission. If one element of the team is a little weaker than the others, it may cause the whole thing to crumble."

As a platoon commander, Danny leads a team of his own, 47 Marines in Echo Company of the Fourth Light Armored Reconnaissance. The unit includes his brother, Jimmy, who drives a light armored vehicle for the unit, which is based in Syracuse. Johnny plans to focus his infantry training on becoming a mortarman.

Jimmy and Danny are technically in the Marine Reserves, and train one weekend a month and an extended period each summer. But Danny is about to go on active duty for a year, at 29 Palms in California, near the Mojave Desert.

Wherever they go as Marines, they'll take a piece of Rockland with them. It made them who they are, and helped them decide their life path.

"I think being the smallest county in New York, Rockland in general has a stronger sense of community than other counties," Danny said. "All three of us wanted a challenge. We definitely didn't want to take the easy road."

Following tradition, to the letter

During boot camp, cellphones are forbidden. The only contact the Costellos had with Johnny was via letters.

"It's kind of a lost art," Johnny said. "People don't really write letters anymore."

Unless they've got a Marine in boot camp.

Johnny got into letter-writing practice by writing to Jimmy when Jimmy was at boot camp.

"It was funny because some kids, their mail would get sent back to them because they didn't know how to address it properly," Johnny said. "I never had that problem."

He also knew what to expect, thanks to Jimmy.

"I went in very physically fit and with a good understanding of what was going to go on," Johnny said. "That helped me tremendously."

A connection to service

At Officer Candidate School, Danny said, tradition runs in the Corps, literally.

"I did what's called a Medal of Honor run in Quantico," he said. "You run, you stop at a station, you read the Medal of Honor citation of a Marine who came before you. On bases, streets are named after Marines who did great things and were heroic and courageous. We definitely feel a connection,"

The uniform cements that connection, Jimmy said.

"Since I was a recruit at Parris Island, I always thought to myself that I am standing where fellow Marines stood who gave their life for this country or were Medal of Honor recipients," he said. "It always gave me a sense of pride in what I was doing. Wearing my uniform definitely made me feel that pride and I was even more proud because my brother now could feel that feeling."

On Oct. 6, the whole Costello family trekked to Parris Island. Dan, Maureen, Kylie, Tara and Marines Danny and Jimmy were on hand to see Johnny graduate with the 90 Marines in his platoon, in a company of more than 300.

They hadn't heard his voice for 13 weeks of boot camp, had only letters to stay connected, but here they were, always faithful: Semper Fidelis. One of the photos shows Johnny flanked by his brothers, who now share another brotherhood, the brotherhood of the United States Marine Corps.

A young man of few words, the 18-year-old summed it up this way: "Seeing my brothers, all of us in uniform, was the best moment of my life."

Reach Peter D. Kramer at pkramer@gannett.com. To support journalism like this, subscribe at www.lohud.com/subscribe.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: 3 Pearl River brothers join US Marines as a call to community, duty