Today is the 233rd Birthday of the United States Marine Corps. For anyone that has ever felt the loving embrace of a Marine Corps Drill Instructor, I wish you a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Thank you for the sacrifice and service you have made for this country."On November 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of the Continental Congress. Since that date many thousands of men have borne that name Marine. In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the Birthday of our Corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history." ~ General John A. LeJeune, USMC on November 1st, 1921
You can read General LeJeune's entire 1921 Birthday message here -- and you can read the current Commandants Birthday Message here.
Semper Fi.
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7 comments:
Andy,
Thanks for posting this today. I did not know of this date but have now posted it to my electronic calendar so I will not ever miss it again. I feel close to the Marines because my dad was a Marine in WWII. He was very proud of his service and is buried at the National Cemetery in Battle Creek. Regardless of what anyone thinks of the current conflicts we are fighting, we should all take a minute now and then to thank those citizens who are serving across the globe in all branches of the armed services. Semper Fi.
Semper Fi and Happy Birthday.
The MC birthday is conveniently situated a week or so before my Mother's birthday. As such, I have not missed sending my mother a birthday card since I was 18.
If you really want to celebrate our birthday today drink something! We were founded in a bar, no joke. Toast to the Corps!
Happy birthday and Semper Fidelis (Always Faithful) Marines! Time to get wasted and PARTAY!!!! God bless Jack and Jose and Johnny and Jim and Gordon and Michigan and God bless everyone!!!!!
A heartfelt THANKS to all the men and women who are serving and have served this country so proudly.
Q: What do the Wolverines and Marines have in common?
A: We're both the leaders and best!!! Hoorah!!!
(maybe not always at football though)
And don't forget about all those who have only known the tender loving care only a Sergeant Instructor could render... God Bless our officers too and all those who embody the True spirit of what it means to be a Marine. God Bless and have a great Marine Corps day, all you buckeye fans too... that's an order!
I remember my first MC birthday in Boot Camp at MCRD San Diego in 2004. I had a fever over 100, a migrane, an Upper Respiratory Infection and I was coughing up blood, yet I had to run the bayonet assault course, do pugil sticks, and then do ground fighting all before witnessing a birthday cake cutting ceremony on the Parade Deck that day. I also saw a Marine NCO pass out in formation for the first time (not all that uncommon believe it or not... man do I have some stories about that), and yet I refused to give in or reveal my condition to my Drill Instructors because I knew I would be dropped from my platoon and I wasn't having that while I was still conscious (props to my bunkmate and the two next to us for looking out for me during the fleeting moments of fleeting moments I was able to rest in my weakened state, hidden from our D.I.'s). I hated the thought of leaving as much as I felt for those who did get dropped. You enter together and you want to leave together, because when you enter the suck (whether its boot camp or the battlefield) with one another you grow and learn to become Marines side by side and you'll do whatever it takes to keep that good man at your side whether it be on the drill field or the battlefield.
Boot Camp stories can be good and honorable in their own right, but its the men like a retired SGTMAJ who spoke at my Ball in Okinawa a few years ago who envoke the hallowed and cherished memories that deserve our utmost respect. He talked of his days in 'Nam on four man patrols behind enemy lines and about the other men with him... a lot of whom never made it home. He never once mentioned his own heroism, just the inner struggles faced in those darkest hours. You knew he was though... the man had several personal decorations for actions in combat and SEVEN PURPLE HEARTS! Chesty would be proud.
I'll never forget my first moments becoming a Marine and how I've grown as one since (and how I got a little better just in time to make it up north to Pendleton and get f&ckin' murdered on Black Saturday two days later). Ahh the memories!!! It's the memories, those extreme highs and lows only the Corps can bring that I will always cherish... it's life and the celebration thereof; it's laughing your ass off at the boot camp stories which are too many for anyone to be able to share them all, (and almost never in front of the goodly ladies) those who forget and the horrible superiors who tarnish the memory of those who came before, keeping the faith as best you can and meeting the Commandant and the SGTMAJ of the Marine Corps, and the tears shed for those friends and respected heroes lost in body, but not in spirit. All serve to make sure that you'll never forget how proud you were the first day you saw your family as a Marine (I shed an uncontrollable tear on the Parade Deck when my brother and family found me) and how proud you continue to be a part of that bond felt by brothers in arms. Once a Marine always a Marine. Happy Birthday Andy.
Get some!!!
P.S. Today is also the birthday of Cpl Jason Dunham of Scio, NY. He was mortally wounded in Iraq after diving on a grenade to save the lives of his fellow Marines. He is one of two Marines (and several more still deserve it!) to posthumously receive the Medal of Honor during these wars on terrorism. My thoughts and prayers eternally go out to the families and friends of those who serve... and to all you Americans who support us!
My family was a Navy family but I do have an appreciation for the Marines.
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