Ben Closs celebrates his return home from Iraq with parents Katherine and Bill.

Capt. Ben Closs, a U.S. Marine serving in Iraq, returned from the worn-torn country recently to warm greetings and a gathering of family and friends at his parents’ home in Los Altos. He was also welcomed with a reception at Foothills Congregational Church on Sept. 18.

After graduating from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Md., Closs accepted a commission in the Marine Corps in 1999, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.

After Officer Candidate School, The Basic School, the Infantry Officer Course, flight school and receiving training in intelligence, Closs was assigned to helicopter squadron HMM-364, the Purple Foxes.

The squadron recently completed a seven-month deployment in Iraq, during which Closs served as the intelligence officer and as a helicopter crewman for medical evacuation.

Closs said he is glad to be back in the United States and is especially grateful that his entire unit returned safely.

Closs, now 31, grew up in Los Altos, where he attended Montclaire Elementary School and Cupertino Junior High School. He graduated from Menlo School in Atherton.

Closs studied the Great Books at St. John’s, where he completed majors in history of science and history of literature, and minors in math, music, philosophy, French and Ancient Greek. He joined the crew and fencing teams, and learned swing and ballroom dance, a school tradition.

Closs’ mother, Katherine, said she had misgivings about his entering the military, especially with rising tensions around the world. But Closs told his family that those tensions were all the more reason he needed to serve.

“You can’t help but admire that,” Katherine Closs said of her son, whose second tour of duty ends in February.