by Brian A. McDonald

Every New Years day for the past seventeen years one Somervillian has been jumping into the frigid waters of Boston Harbor off of L Street in South Boston. This year, however, finds him in a desert half way across the world.

          Sergeant John V. Langton, Jr. of Somerville has been in Iraq for three months. “They told him he’s going to be there at least 18 months,” said John’s mother, Nancy Langton. 

          Langton is serving as a drill instructor for the fledgling Iraqi Guard. His mother said the position is a dangerous one because of the insurgency’s push to put down America’s effort at arming Iraqi.

          “They are more or less targeting the volunteers,” she said. John is concentrating on having a positive effect in Iraq and calls home regularly to relay good news.

          “He tells me that the ones he is working with really like the Americans, they are very happy for all of the work he is doing,” she said. “He told me not to believe what I see on TV. These people are very friendly, they like us.”

          But John’s efforts are not confined to the battlefield. Being an avid sportsman, he is also participating, from afar, in a fundraising drive to put Iraqi kids into running shoes, shirts and shorts.

          “He called and said they need shirts, shoes and toothbrushes for the kids,” Mrs. Langton said.

          John’s local affiliation with various running groups has led to a growing effort to provide athletic equipment both for Iraqi children and armed service personnel in Iraq.

          Being a larger runner, John is classified in competition as a Clydesdale – a category for athletes usually over 200 pounds. His involvement with the USA Clydesdale and Filly Racing Federation has afforded him an opportunity to participate in a drive to help those in need.

          The USACFRF is sponsoring a run along the banks of the Charles this month to raise awareness and money for those in Iraq.

          “The Mission Goal is to coordinate local & national efforts and to deliver needed items for our women and men over in Iraq who are training the local Iraq population. These items are as basic as Coolmax shirts to be worn during the hot Iraq spring & summer, running shoes, racing tee shirts for Iraq children and adults, soap and toothbrushes, crayons and coloring books, cookies, news sources such as Runners World, Running Times, local and national newspapers,” said a spokesperson for USACF.

          The run, which is not a race, will be held Jan. 23, 2005  and will take off from the Elliot St. Bridge in Cambridge to a number of destinations of varying lengths.

          In the meantime, John’s family is keeping his intensity alive at home.

          John, who swam the English Channel and has swum from Kittery, Maine to Salisbury Beach MA with his wife, was being honored by his family this year.

          John’s three brothers, Scott, Brian and Steven, one cousin and four nieces and nephews all took the plunge for the first time this year with the L St. Brownies.

          “He was always the organizer,” said his father John V. Langton, Sr.

          John’s mother said he even motivated one of his friends, an amputee, to become a competitive runner.

          “His friend Mike Welch lost his leg in a motorcycle accident,” she said. “Then John and Mike met. John convinced him he could run with his prosthesis. John and he ran next to each other in the Boston Marathon.”

          So the family carries on, in his place, a tradition he has been part of for over a decade. A frigid dip with the oldest purported Polar Bear Club in America to honor one of their own.

          “They all decided to do it this year in honor of him,” said his father.

          More information about the fund drive can be found at:

www.clydesdale.org/runnersforthoseinneediniraq/index.html