News & Events
Flag-Draping Marine Plans to Study at City Tech
Fu and Chin
One of the most memorable images of the war in Iraq is of the young U.S. marine draping an American flag and then the Iraqi flag over the head of a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. That Marine, Corporal Edward Chin, 23, was a New York City College of Technology (City Tech) student before he enlisted in 1999 and will be applying for readmission upon his release from the military this summer, according to his wife, City Tech student Anna Fu.
Fu, 22, who expects to graduate with an associate's degree in civil engineering technology in January 2004, is hoping that she and her husband will be able to take a psychology elective and possibly another course together in the fall. "I'm waiting for Edward to come home so we can start carrying out our plans."
Those plans include moving in together in Bensonhurst, and Chin earning a bachelor's degree in architectural technology at City Tech and Fu going on for a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. After finishing their education and gaining experience in their respective fields, they hope to form a husband/wife team and open a consulting firm that will strive to clean up and improve the environment.
The togetherness Fu envisions will balance all the years they have spent apart early in their relationship. In 1999, Chin left the city to go to boot camp and served on active duty in California for 3-1/2 years until he was deployed to Kuwait at the end of January. Fu has been here in New York City during this period of time.
As a City Tech student, she has received a National Science Foundation Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship and a New York State Engineering Technology Association Scholarship.
News accounts of Chin's exploits in Baghdad, which were broadcast all over the world, contained one intentional error and an unintentional one. Fu was described as Chin's fiancée, when in fact she is his wife. "We were married in New York at City Hall when Edward was on leave, but don't want everyone to know until he returns from the war and we announce the date for the ceremony," Fu explains.
And the unintentional one? City Tech's formal name was incorrectly referred to as "College of Technology," or "New York Institute of Technology in Manhattan" or "New York College of Technology in Manhattan" in most accounts. Attention, everyone: the campus is New York City College of Technology in Brooklyn!
