Compass Points - The 249th

The Marine Corps birthday

Compass Points - The 249th

The Marine Corps birthday

November 10, 2024

marinecorpscompasspoints.substack.com

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Today marks the 249th anniversary of the founding of the US Marine Corps. Happy birthday to Marines and to all the friends and family of the Marine Corps.

Today the Marine Corps and the Nation it serves are surrounded by threats and challenges. This is nothing new. To meet current challenges, the Marine Corps will need to take the best of what it can learn from the past and apply it to the present and to the future.

That is just what the Marine Corps was doing 100 years ago on the 149th anniversary of the Corps. In 1924 the Marine Corps marched more than 3,000 Marines from Quantico to the battlefields of Antietam.

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The Marines Land at Antietam

The largest event ever to take place at Antietam Battlefield, with the exception of the battle itself, was in 1924, [when] 3,200 United States Marines marched from their base in Quantico, Virginia to Sharpsburg and spent eleven days on the battlefield. In addition to training and maneuvers, the “soldiers of the sea” held baseball games, concerts, parades, ceremonies, movies and dances. They brought tanks, aircraft, balloons, machine guns, artillery, trucks and all the equipment needed for a major deployment. Photographs of the event appeared in papers across the county. Over 100,000 people came out during the event to witness the spectacle.

-- National Park Service, "The Marines Land at Antietam"

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To get to the Antietam battlefield, 138 miles from Quantico, the Marines marched an average of sixteen miles a day, setting up camp each evening. Starting at Fort Humphreys (today Fort Belvoir), Virginia; then camping in East Potomac Park in Washington D.C.; and on to camps in Rockville, Gaithersburg, Ridgeville and Frederick, Maryland.

While both the Commandant of the Marine Corps, John A. Lejeune, along with Smedley Butler and many other dignitaries attended the Antietam exercise, it was commanded by Brigadier General Dion Williams.

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Brigadier General Dion Williams led the Marine Corps Expeditionary Force to Antietam. Williams graduated from both the United States Naval Academy and the Army War College. He had served in the Spanish-American War, as an instructor at the Naval War College and Fleet Marine Officer for the Atlantic Fleet. His goal for this event was two-fold. One aim was to train the force in expeditionary warfare, and the second was to demonstrate the importance of the Marines. After World War I, the U.S. military was downsizing, budgets were tight and there was even talk of not needing the Marine Corps.

-- National Park Service, "The Marines Land at Antietam"

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Not needing the Marine Corps?

The US had needed the Marines at Belleau Wood just a few years before. The Nation would need the Marines in the Pacific in World War II. Those Marines training at Antietam did not know that the Marine air, ground, logistics task force they were exercising at Antietam in 1924 would serve the Nation well in World War II, in Korea, in Vietnam, and into the desert wars,

On the 249th birthday of the Marine Corps, Marines still serve the Nation with an indomitable spirit. Marines and friends of the Corps should take time to celebrate the Corps' great history. But when this year's celebration is over, it is time to train and to prepare. It is time to march to Antietam. The next battle is coming. It will take rugged, hardened Marines organized, trained, and equipped for battle. Where will the next battle take place? Does it matter?

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Our flag’s unfurled to every breeze

From dawn to setting sun;

We have fought in ev’ry clime and place

Where we could take a gun;

-- Marines' Hymn

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Happy birthday Marines!

Celebrate hard today. Train hard tomorrow.

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Marines!

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Fire and maneuver, and get it done,

Fight as a team, 'till the fight is won. 

Every Marine, a rifleman. 

Every battle, to the end.

Every Marine, a rifleman. 

Faithful warrior and friend. 

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A Marine stands at the ready, 

In the sweat and fog of war.

And pushes past exhaustion, 

When about to breach a door.

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It's the full fury of the wolf,

Who first carries the attack.

But that lone wolf draws his fury, 

From the closeness of the pack. 

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A Marine about to battle,

Might first seem to be alone,

But Marines go fight together,

And together, they come home.

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It begins on yellow footprints,

With loud voices and long days.

And culminates in Crucible,

And award of E.G.A.'s. 

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Fire and maneuver, and get it done,

Fight as a team, 'till the fight is won. 

Every Marine, a rifleman. 

Every battle, to the end.

Every Marine, a rifleman. 

Faithful warrior and friend.  

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That one Marine who's standing there,

At the door about to breach, 

But not one Marine's alone there.

More help's within his reach. 

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With his fire team right with him, 

And the larger unit all.

Marines are on the left and right,

And much more support on call:

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Smart agencies and foreign friends,

And skilled leaders in command.

With air and naval gunfire,

And artillery at hand.

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Corpsman, Chaplain, and translator,

Plus, high satellites and tech.

Logistics and intelligence,

Contribute all their best.

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The future will send surprises,

Send new challenges and needs.

When the future sends new battles,

Send the future, the Marines! 

-- (c) JDK 2024