milagros317
Wielder of 500 Feathers
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Today is the 245th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corp. 
Attached is the annual birthday message from the Commandant of the USMC.
My Uncle Al enlisted in the USMC on December 8, 1941. He lied about his age to get in; he was a high school student aged 17 at the time. He got home in January 1946, married the week he got home, eventually had three sons and six grandchildren. He died in 2010, aged 86. He almost never talked about his experiences in combat in the Pacific, but once told me a harrowing story about the battle of Tarawa Atoll. As long as he lived, he never bought a product made in Japan. He never joined a veteran's organization nor went to a reunion of any kind.
At his funeral, the USMC sent two young marines in full dress uniform. They looked somewhat out of place in a Jewish funeral home in Ocean County, New Jersey. Both aged about 19 or 20, they had placed an American flag on his casket. At the appropriate time during the ceremony, they removed the flag, carefully folded it, and presented it to his widow.
It struck me as amazing that these two young men would do this, fully 64 years after Al's last contact with the USMC.
Happy Birthday to the USMC!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa
Attached is the annual birthday message from the Commandant of the USMC.
My Uncle Al enlisted in the USMC on December 8, 1941. He lied about his age to get in; he was a high school student aged 17 at the time. He got home in January 1946, married the week he got home, eventually had three sons and six grandchildren. He died in 2010, aged 86. He almost never talked about his experiences in combat in the Pacific, but once told me a harrowing story about the battle of Tarawa Atoll. As long as he lived, he never bought a product made in Japan. He never joined a veteran's organization nor went to a reunion of any kind.
At his funeral, the USMC sent two young marines in full dress uniform. They looked somewhat out of place in a Jewish funeral home in Ocean County, New Jersey. Both aged about 19 or 20, they had placed an American flag on his casket. At the appropriate time during the ceremony, they removed the flag, carefully folded it, and presented it to his widow.
It struck me as amazing that these two young men would do this, fully 64 years after Al's last contact with the USMC.
Happy Birthday to the USMC!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tarawa
