BOARDMAN — “I will tell you this — and I’ve done a lot of thinking about it — I grew up in the Marine Corps.”

There are others who could likely say the same thing, but for 86-year-old Stanley Hindes of Boardman, it was not just the truth. It was unavoidable. He was one of five brothers to serve in the Corps.

“I always knew that my future was in the Marine Corps,” Hindes said, adding that he “wasn’t very much of a student.”

His self-confessed lack of academic acumen through high school was merely his humble and self-effacing manner that would regularly poke through during an interview in which he was much more inclined to talk about his older brothers than himself.

“My heroes were my brothers. (My role model) wasn’t some sports star — even though I followed sports and what have you — but my heroes were my brothers,” Hindes said more than once.

Hindes was born and raised in the western Pennsylvania borough of Crafton adjacent to Pittsburgh’s West End. One of Crafton’s more famous citizens is Steelers Hall of Fame head coach Bill Cowher.

“I’ve been a Pittsburgher all my life,” said Hindes, proudly noting his roots and devotion to the Steelers and other Pittsburgh sports teams.

He graduated from Crafton High School in 1957, four years before it merged with Carnegie and Rosslyn Farms to form the Carlynton School District. Hindes was the Crafton High quarterback, “but not a very good one,” he said while laughing.

Growing up was not easy for the Hindes family. Four girls were born first, followed by a parade of five boys, another girl, and then, finally, Stanley in 1939, a total of 11 children, now all deceased except for Hindes and one sister.

The family started growing as the nation emerged from World War I during which his father had served, and continued to grow during the Great Depression.

“We did not have indoor plumbing until I was about in the fourth grade,” Hindes said.

He then explained that the Pittsburgh Diocese bought the property to build Bishop Canevin High School, forcing Hindes, his mother and a sister to live with one of Hindes’ older, married sisters. The rest of the family was parceled out to two other older sisters. At no time did all 11 of the Hindes kids live under one roof.

“My dad died of cancer on Dec. 7, 1941 — Pearl Harbor Day — just before my third birthday, so I really didn’t know him,” Hindes said.

His oldest brother William dropped out of high school to work and help support the family, and when he turned 18 in 1943, he enlisted in the Marine Corps.

“He was wounded in action at both Peleliu and Okinawa in the South Pacific,” Hindes said. William stayed in the Corps after the war and served for nearly 26 years, making the jump from enlisted man to officer, retiring as a major.

“I think that’s quite an accomplishment to go from high school dropout to major,” Hindes said.

His second oldest brother, James, also served in World War II, but he was the outlier of the six boys, having served in the United States Navy. “He had a heart murmur” and the Marines wouldn’t take him, he said. “He never saw water,” said Hindes, explaining that James served the duration of the war in Oklahoma.

The third Marine in the family was George. “He was the true Marine in the family. That’s all he ever wanted. It was his passion,” said Hindes. “He told me once that there are 20,000 lieutenants and captains in the Corps, but only one sergeant major of the Marine Corps.”

His sights were set on being the USMC’s top enlisted man, according to Hindes, but George fell just short of his goal, retiring one rank below after a 30-year career.

Hindes’ brothers, Charles (who enlisted before George) and Walter were also Marines, the former a veteran of Korea and the latter making sergeant quickly before deciding to leave the Corps.

“I tell everyone I had a four-year vacation (in the Marines),” Hindes said with a smile. “I was in between wars — Korea and Vietnam — and my first duty station was in El Toro, California, near where they had just built Disneyland. My two career Marine brothers, William and George, were at the same base and I had a sister living near there, too.”

The GI Bill enabled Hindes to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in accounting and finance at the University of Cincinnati, where he got a head start on a career after the Marines through a job co-op program with the Arthur Young accounting firm in Pittsburgh.

He met his wife, Cecelia, a Youngstown native, while working in Pittsburgh where he enjoyed his career in finance by working for the Community College of Allegheny County and two nonprofits.

He credits the Marine Corps for his career success.

“It’s all discipline,” Hindes said. “The Marine Corps instills pride in everything you do,” he said, adding the Corps makes you a problem solver.

Despite his unassuming manner, it does not take long to discover that Stanley Hindes is the living embodiment of the Marine Corps Code — the values of which are honor, courage and commitment.

All of his older brothers would be proud.