Happy Birthday, Marines | The American Spectator

Today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States Marine Corps. It’s a day to celebrate and to remember why we are celebrating.

The Marines have always been America’s “kick in the door” force. The Marines’ Hymn begins, “From the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.” In 1794 President Thomas Jefferson asked congress to build six frigates — the first ships in the U.S. Navy — because Jefferson wanted to punish the Barbary Pirates who had taken Americans captive and held them for ransom.

The frigates were built by 1805 and the Marines were ordered to take on the pirates. A young man named First Lieutenant Presley Neville O’Bannon, USMC, commanded a small Marine force that marched about 500 miles through the desert to a successful attack on Derna, Libya. He was the first U.S. officer to command troops overseas.

The curved “Mameluke” sword was presented to Lt. O’Bannon by a Mameluke tribal chief. (The Mamelukes were a tribe of Turkish and Circassian warriors who ruled Egypt before being extinguished by the Ottomans in 1517.) The sword, which is worn by Marine officers when performing ceremonial duties is modeled after the O’Bannon sword. It is the oldest weapon still in U.S. service.

In 1847, the Marines went to the “Halls of Montezuma,” storming into Mexico City and Chapultepec Castle in the first U.S.-Mexican war.

Out of their exploits in the two World Wars, the Marines have earned the image of the “good guy/tough guy” and have cultivated it ever since.

The Marines have always paid a heavy price, sometimes sacrificing their lives to save other Marines. I have an old book inherited from my father titled, The Old Breed, about the First Marine Division. At the end of the book is a tribute to Marines several of whom jumped onto Japanese grenades to sacrifice their lives to save their comrades-in-arms.

Countless movies have been made about the Marines but only a few, a very few, have captured the intense violence that the Marines have fought through. My father, then a young Marine officer, fought in the battles of Guadalcanal, Tarawa and Iwo Jima. He never wanted to talk about the things he had been through. Only on one occasion he spoke of a time he and a close friend walked down a Guadalcanal beach that they believed to be secure. As they walked, Dad’s pal was killed by a Japanese sniper.

My mother was sometimes embarrassed by the Marines’ pride. When Dad returned from Guadalcanal, he took her to the then-famous “21 Club” in New York City. When the band leader spotted his Marine uniform, the band began playing the Marines’ Hymn. Dad wouldn’t sit down while it was playing and the band leader wouldn’t stop playing the song until he did. This apparently went on for some time.

I remember the respect my father’s friends showed him. They had all served in World War II but when Dad spoke they all listened.

Marines aren’t just tough, they are smart. When I served as a deputy undersecretary of defense, I had already testified before congress several times, occasionally before hostile committees. Someone sent a Marine colonel to me to get some advice which he didn’t need.

At the time, Col. Jim Hart was the program director for the Marine Harrier AV-8B fighter-bomber. When Jim testified he was asked if a particular part of the aircraft would function at minus 40 degrees. (Jim had a masters degree in aeronautical engineering or something like that.) He said it did. And then the congressman outran his headlights. He asked if that was true at both minus 40 Centigrade and Fahrenheit. Jim said it didn’t matter.

The room exploded with congressmen sneering and shouting that his testimony was an example of Pentagon arrogance. Jim asked if he could answer the question and did. He said it didn’t matter because the lines crossed at that temperature. Minus 40 degrees is equal in Centigrade and Fahrenheit. That hushed the room. At the end of is testimony, the chairman of the committee came down and shook his hand.

After that, Jim and I became close friends. He would show up, unannounced, at our front door asking if he could stay the night. He always carried a bottle of good scotch whiskey and he was welcomed regardless of the booze he toted. We drank a lot of that scotch together.

The Marines are, after all, different from the other services. You can see that from the high-and-tight haircuts (which earned them the nickname “jarhead”) to the way they march, fight, and do everything else.  You can see it in the way they drill.

I have had the pleasure of twice seeing the Evening Parade at the Marine Barracks in Washington, DC. It begins with a rough-looking gunnery sergeant at the gate asking, “May I escort your lady, sir?” Every woman’s heart melts when the gunny takes her arm.

And then the show begins. The precision drill teams the Marines have are expert in the best sense of the word. When I saw the sergeant walking through two lines of Marines throwing spinning bayonet-tipped rifles across his path, it was the most awesome display I’ve ever seen on a drill field.

Some 297 Medals of Honor — our highest medal for valor above and beyond the call of duty — have been earned by Marines since the Civil War. Two Marines — Gen. Smedley Butler and Sergeant Dan Daly — have been awarded two Medals of Honor. Daly is remembered for leading his Marines in a charge during the battle of Belleau Wood shouting, “Come on you sons of bitches. Do you want to live forever?”

After the battle for Iwo Jima, Admiral Chester Nimitz said of the Marines, “Uncommon valor was a common virtue.” So it was, as it has ever been, for the Marines in fight after fight. They have, as the Marines’ Hymn says, fought in every clime and place where they could take a gun.

We all owe a debt of gratitude to the Marines for their bravery, courage, and “Semper Fidelis” — always faithful — commitment to the defense of our nation.

Happy birthday to all my Marine pals and a solemn salute to all those who have died in the line of duty.

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