Tuesday, November 10, marks the 240th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Its roots date all the way back to 1775 when it was established as the Continental Marines. The Second Continental Congress first commissioned Marines to man two vessels in the Continental Navy. Their original purpose was to provide on-board security forces and to protect the Captain and his officers.
Soon after, they would be used to conduct amphibious combat missions and raids during the American Revolution. One of their first missions was to raid a British armory in the Bahamas just months after the first two battalions were created.
In the air, on land, and at sea, a Marine must be equipped and ready to fight wherever duty calls. With Veterans Day just around the corner, we should all be sure to thank the Marines in our lives for the sacrifices they’ve made to protect our freedom and security, “from the Halls of Montezuma to the Shores of Tripoli.”
To commemorate its birthday on Tuesday, we’ve put together five facts you might not have known about the USMC.
The First Marines Were Recruited in a Tavern The first commissioned officer of the Continental Marines was a man named Samuel Nicholas. He was part of a well-known Quaker family from Philadelphia, and was nicknamed “the Fightin’ Quaker.” He was appointed the 1st Commandant in 1775 and took charge in recruiting locals to fight for America’s independence from the British.
And where did he turn in his recruitment efforts? To local taverns of course!
One of his first recruits was Robert Mullan, the manager of Tun Tavern in Philadelphia. Nicholas appointed him as the Chief Marine Recruiter and he would use the allure of cold beer and camaraderie to recruit new Marines.
This is why the Tun Tavern is officially acknowledged as the birthplace of the Marine Corps....
Published on Nov 5, 2015 Being in the UK's Medical Emergency Response Team - or MERT - is one of the toughest jobs for a military medic. In Afghanistan, they flew thousands of missions, collecting wounded troops from the battlefield and flying them to hospital in the back of a Chinook. Forces TV has been given exclusive access to the course which trains the emergency medics of the future.
Navy to Christen Guided Missile Destroyer Rafael Peralta
Press Operations
Release No: NR-414-15 October 29, 2015 The Navy will christen its newest guided-missile destroyer Rafael Peralta, Saturday, Oct. 31, during a 10 a.m. EDT ceremony at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Bath, Maine. The future USS Rafael Peralta, designated DDG 115, honors Marine Corps Sgt. Rafael Peralta. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for actions during combat operations in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Peralta is credited with saving the lives of fellow Marines during the second battle of Fallujah in 2004. "The tremendous efforts of the highly-skilled men and women of the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works team have brought this ship from an idea to a reality," said Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. "Their work will ensure that the heroism, service and sacrifice of Marine Corps Sergeant Rafael Peralta will be honored and remembered by all who come in contact with DDG 115 long after this great warship is christened." General Robert B. Neller, commandant of the Marine Corps, will deliver the ceremony's principal address. Rosa Maria Peralta, Sgt. Peralta’s mother, will serve as ship's sponsor and officially christen the ship Rafael Peralta. Rafael Peralta is the third of 14 ships currently under contract for the DDG 51 program. The DDG 51 class provides outstanding combat capability and survivability characteristics while minimizing procurement and lifetime support costs, due to the program's maturity. DDG 51 destroyers are warships that provide multi-mission offensive and defensive capabilities. Destroyers can operate independently or as part of carrier strike groups, surface action groups, amphibious ready groups, and underway replenishment groups. DDG 113 and follow on DDGs are being built with Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) capability. The 9,200 ton Rafael Peralta is being built by General Dynamics Bath Iron Works. The ship is 509 feet in length, has a waterline beam of 59 feet, and a navigational draft of 31 feet. Four gas turbine engines will power the ship to speeds in excess of 30 knots.
It's official: Lois Lerner who infamously pleaded 'the 5th' when asked questions about her role in targeting Conservatives wielding the IRS hammer, will not face any criminal charges. Surprised? No, me neither, given the climate these last few years in DC and the DoJ 'leadership' of Eric Holder.
Department of Justice announces NO CHARGES in IRS scandal…
Written by Michelle Jesse, Associate Editor October 23, 2015
Actually, I suppose it shouldn’t be shocking at all. President Obama’s Department of Justice (DOJ) just announced there will be NO charges against IRS official Lois Lerner following its investigation.
As the Washington Times reports: IRS official Lois Lerner will not face charges following a Department of Justice investigation. Federal prosecutors announced their decision Friday in a letter to members of Congress.... [...] It is truly sad how unsurprising it is that under President Obama’s administration, targeting people and organizations for the “wrong” beliefs is completely acceptable.... [...]
No surprise, either, that Obama’s DOJ chose to slip this announcement quietly through late on a Friday afternoon — no man’s land as far as news goes....
End of story, right? Nothing to see here. Move along. (That IS the Obama way, after all.)
Well perhaps not. Today comes word that the House GOP is moving to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. You remember him. His insistence that 'to the 'best of my knowledge...blah blah...'
House GOP moves to impeach IRS chief By Peter Schroeder - 10/27/15 House Republicans have moved to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, arguing he violated the public trust.
Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) introduced an impeachment resolution Tuesday, days after the Justice Department concluded its investigation into IRS targeting of Tea Party groups with no charges filed.
“Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled,” Chaffetz said in a statement. “Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress.”...
[...]
Much of the committee’s impeachment charge centers around the destruction of several backup tapes that could have contained missing emails sent by Lois Lerner, the former official at the center of the IRS’s improper scrutiny of conservative groups.
Chaffetz’s resolution charges that Koskinen, who took over the IRS after the controversy emerged, failed to preserve 422 backup tapes that could have contained Lerner emails.
Republicans have argued Koskinen was not truthful when he told lawmakers he would hand over all her documents, given the destruction of the backups. Chaffetz also charged that Koskinen failed to notify Congress the evidence was missing....
The Justice Department’s decision to close the IRS targeting investigation without a single charge or prosecution is a low point of accountability in an Administration that is better known for punishing whistleblowers than the abuse and misconduct they expose. After stating that their investigation confirms that Tea Party and conservative groups were improperly targeted, they dismiss it merely as a byproduct of gross mismanagement and incompetence – ignoring volumes of evidence in the public record and efforts to obstruct legitimate inquires. Americans’ faith in government and in the IRS in particular, has been greatly eroded by an Administration that when confronted with instances of misconduct appears complicit in shielding those involved from responsibility. Giving Lois Lerner a free pass only reinforces the idea that government officials are above the law and that there is no consequence for wrongdoing.
I found this picture at the Beirut Memorial Online, and here you can find a list of the fallen from this terrible day. Go look, and think about the lives cut short, as represented by every name there.
Aerial view of the headquarters of Battalion Landing Team 1st Bn., 8th Marines, the ground combat element of the 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, in Beirut, Lebanon where 220 Marines, 18 Sailors, and three soldiers were killed when an explosive-laden truck slammed into the building on Oct. 23, 1983, completely destroying the structure.
Source: U.S. State Department.
[...]October 23, 1983 bombing of the United States Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The United States honors the sacrifices of the 241 American servicemen who lost their lives that day in service of their country while protecting the stability of Lebanon. The Marine barracks memorial on the grounds of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut reads, “They came in peace.”
"...Make the people who wished us harm understand...we were not defeated...we are still here..." (source)
1983: Beirut blasts kill US and French troops
At least 146 American marines and 27 French servicemen have been killed after two separate bomb attacks on military headquarters in the Lebanese capital Beirut. Two lorries containing 4000lb (1.4 tonnes) bombs exploded when they hit the buildings, the US Battalion Landing Team headquarters and the French paratroopers base which are situated just four miles (6km) apart.
The death toll is expected to rise to more than 200 as people remain trapped inside the collapsed buildings. [...]
The US Secretary of Defence, Caspar Weinberger, insisted there was "strong circumstantial evidence" that Iran was behind the attacks but did not rule out possible Syrian and Soviet involvement.
"There are no words that can properly express our outrage and, I think the outrage of all Americans at this despicable act " President Reagan
Arlington Cemetery also has a section dedicated to the fallen of October 23, 1983, here.
On October 27th, President Ronald Reagan gave a national address. He said, in part:
In these last few days, I've been more sure than I've ever been that we Americans of today will keep freedom and maintain peace. I've been made to feel that by the magnificent spirit of our young men and women in uniform and by something here in our Nation's Capital. In this city, where political strife is so much a part of our lives, I've seen Democratic leaders in the Congress join their Republican colleagues, send a message to the world that we're all Americans before we're anything else, and when our country is threatened, we stand shoulder to shoulder in support of our men and women in the Armed Forces.
May I share something with you I think you'd like to know? It's something that happened to the Commandant of our Marine Corps, General Paul Kelley, while he was visiting our critically injured marines in an Air Force hospital. It says more than any of us could ever hope to say about the gallantry and heroism of these young men, young men who serve so willingly so that others might have a chance at peace and freedom in their own lives and in the life of their country.
I'll let General Kelley's words describe the incident. He spoke of a ``young marine with more tubes going in and out of his body than I have ever seen in one body.''
``He couldn't see very well. He reached up and grabbed my four stars, just to make sure I was who I said I was. He held my hand with a firm grip. He was making signals, and we realized he wanted to tell me something. We put a pad of paper in his hand -- and he wrote `Semper Fi.' ''
Well, if you've been a marine or if, like myself, you're an admirer of the marines, you know those words are a battlecry, a greeting, and a legend in the Marine Corps. They're marine shorthand for the motto of the Corps -- ``Semper Fidelis'' -- ``always faithful.''
[...]
That marine and all those others like him, living and dead, have been faithful to their ideals. They've given willingly of themselves so that a nearly defenseless people in a region of great strategic importance to the free world will have a chance someday to live lives free of murder and mayhem and terrorism. I think that young marine and all of his comrades have given every one of us something to live up to.
They were not afraid to stand up for their country or, no matter how difficult and slow the journey might be, to give to others that last, best hope of a better future. We cannot and will not dishonor them now and the sacrifices they've made by failing to remain as faithful to the cause of freedom and the pursuit of peace as they have been.
I will not ask you to pray for the dead, because they're safe in God's loving arms and beyond need of our prayers. I would like to ask you all -- wherever you may be in this blessed land -- to pray for these wounded young men and to pray for the bereaved families of those who gave their lives for our freedom. God bless you, and God bless America.
(The whole thing here) From the US Marine Corps site:
The 23rd of October; ‘Our first duty is to remember’
10/19/2010 By Pfc. Christofer P. Baines , Headquarters Marine Corps
ARLINGTON, Va. — Veterans, families, friends and various dignitaries gathered under blue skies at section 59 in Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 17 to remember their loved ones and brothers in arms.
Since 1984, the remembrance ceremony has been an annual event of sorrow and celebration for the men who gave their lives during a peace keeping mission in Beirut. At approximately 6:22 a.m., on Oct. 23, 1983, an Islamic terrorist drove a yellow delivery truck into the lobby of the Marine Corps barracks at Beirut International Airport. The vehicle exploded with a force equivalent to 12,000 pounds of TNT, destroying the building and killing 220 Marines, 18 sailors and three soldiers. Additionally, 58 French paratroopers were killed in a separate attack just two minutes later as they were mobilizing to assist their fellow service members.
“Most of our countrymen probably believe this global war on terror started on 9/11,” said Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. James T. Conway. “I don’t believe that for a moment. I believe it started in October of 1983 when we first saw a significant strike on the young men – Marine, Navy and Army, who were in that building in Beirut.” During the ceremony, families of the fallen were called forward to lead everyone in the pledge of allegiance.
[...]
“We hope you will be consoled in the knowledge that others remember, you are not forgotten and never will be,” said Carmella LaSpada, executive director of the Whitehouse Commission of Remembrance. “Love has brought us together today, a love for those we honor, and a love for our nation.”
[...]
“They lost their lives while in a peace keeping mission,” [Lebanese Ambassador Antoine] Chedid said. “I’m here to pay tribute to them for their bravery. They paid the ultimate sacrifice in the service of peace. Twenty-seven years later, their memory is still in our hearts.”
For the Marines, sailors soldiers who were there, the memory will forever remain etched in their minds.
Craig Renshaw, president of Beirut Veterans of America, said it’s important to remember the lives of the men who died that day. Most Marines knew at least one person who died. For them, the memory is going to be there forever, but it’s up to the chapters, those who were affected and a younger generation to remind others what happened when we suffered the first blow in the war on terror.
“Remembrance is not letting the memory of the guys who gave their lives be forgotten,” he said. “It’s all about them.” [emphasis mine]
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
Semper Fi, Marines.
Yes, this IS a repost from last year, but this quote still remains true - and always will
“Remembrance is not letting the memory of the guys who gave their lives be forgotten,” he said. “It’s all about them.”
Just the other day I found this video, posted by someone who says:
This is a Tribute to my Fallen USMC Brothers who Died 6:22 am October 23rd, 1983. I came home from Beirut. They did not. Semper Fi my Brothers. I will,, Remember the Peacekeepers. You My Brothers .. You Are NOT forgotten
