Happy Birthday USMC
Today is the 230th birthday of the United States Marine Corps and, as is the tradition, you may read the Commandant’s message here.
THE US Postal Service has issued a stamp set honoring four heroic Marines. That’s a bit too few for my tastes. I’d rather they honored a few more and I wonder that they limited themselves to just four.
But the four the USPS did choose to honor are good ones.
A native of West Point, Va., Puller was a battalion commander and regimental commander with the 1st Marine Division during World War II and the Korean War. During his 37-year career, he was awarded 14 personal decorations in combat, five Navy Crosses, one Army Distinguished Service Cross plus a long list of campaign medals, unit citation ribbons and other awards.
Being honored on the other three stamps in the set are:
• Basilone, who won the Medal of Honor in World War II. Basilone was cited for holding 3,000 Japanese soldiers at bay for 72 hours during the battle of Guadalcanal with only 15 men, 12 of whom died in the fight. Sent home to promote the sale of war bonds, Basilone requested to return to combat and again distinguished himself in the battle for Iwo Jima, where he was killed. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and Purple Heart.
• Daly, who received the Medal of Honor twice for separate acts during combat in the Chinese Boxer Rebellion and in Haiti protecting American lives during an uprising in 1915.
• Lejeune, who is remembered as a wartime commander and the first Marine to command at Army division in combat. Lejeune led the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division in World War I. He is credited with establishing Marine Corps institutions and traditions and the Marine base located near Jacksonville, N.C., bears his name.
If you know a Marine, spend a moment or two to thank him for his service and to wish his Corps a Happy Birthday.
Other Posts of Interest:
Category: Stuff I Like, The Long War Here At Home
