Happy 249th Birthday Marines
For 249 years, Marines have served as our Nation's sentinels of freedom. As we celebrate our Corps' birthday this year, I encourage all Marines to reflect on our legacy forged in blood on battlefields since 1775, and to rededicate ourselves to carrying that legacy untarnished into the future.
About Grand Strand Detachment 873
Marine Corps League press statement (brief)
The Grand Strand Detachment 873 is a subsidiary unit of the Marine Corps League, a not-for-profit veterans organization chartered by Congress. It functions to provide aid and comfort to Marines, military Veterans, and the local communities through charitable and patriotic activities, and good citizenship. Among these, the Grand Strand Detachment routinely supports the military chaplaincy of our armed forces, Wreaths Across America Campaigns, local JROTC programs, and makes annual college scholarship awards to qualified students and veterans through its Art Blenk Scholarship Fund.
Marine Corps League Detachment 873 - Purpose Statement
The Grand Strand Detachment 873 is a subsidiary unit of the Marine Corps League, a veterans not-for-profit organization chartered by Congress, and operates within the provisions of the IRS 501(c)4 with an IRS special exemption letter, It functions to provide aid and comfort to Marines, military veterans, and the local communities through its' charitable and patriotic activities, and good citizenship.
Marine Corps League Grand Strand Detachment 873
WHO WE ARE, we are the largest detachment in South Carolina, the Grand Strand Detachment meets ten times per year on the second Tuesday of the Month, excluding August and December. Meetings are held at VFW Post 10420, 4369 US 17 Business, Murrels Inlet, 29576. Meetings begin promptly at 1830 (6:30 PM) and generally are 75 - 90 minutes in length.
Membership is open to all honorably discharged Marines, FMF Corpsman and FMF Navy Chaplains. Proof of honorable service must be provided through a DD214 or Discharger Certificate. Dues are payable yearly (new member dues are $37.00) or through a life Membership (Varies with age).
We also have associate members who have served in other branches of military, or who were never part of the military, who wants to be involved in the league. We welcome participation by anyone who is willing to assist in our patriotic and charitable projects. As a member, you are needed in both assisting and managing our charitable efforts and fund raising, such as Toys for Tots and the Art Blenk scholarships for Marines and their families.
Marine Corps League Disclaimer
"The Eagle Globe and Anchor emblem and the name
Marine Corps ® are registered trademarks of the USMC. The Marine Corps League and its subordinate organizations support the USMC and its Veterans, however it is not officially connected to or endorsed by the USMC, and the name emblem are used with permission".
"The ACT"
That the purposes of this corporation shall be: (a) to preserve the traditions and to promote the interests of the United States Marine Corps; (b) to band those who are now serving in the United States Marine Corps and those who have been honorably discharged from that service together in fellowship that they may effectively promote the ideals of American freedom and democracy; (c) to fit its members for the duties of citizenship and to encourage them to serve as ably as citizens as they have served the Nation under arms; (d) to hold sacred the history and the memory of the men who have given their lives to the Nation; (e) to foster love for the principles which they have supported by blood and valor since the founding of the Republic; (f) to maintain true allegiance to American institutions; (g) to create a bond of comradeship between those in the service and those who have returned to civil life; (h) to aid voluntarily and to render assistance to all Marines and former Marines as well as to their widows and orphans; (i) to perpetuate the history of the United States Marine Corps and by fitting acts to observe the anniversaries of historical occasions of peculiar interest to Marines.
Happy 248th BIRTHDAY United States Marines
PHILADELPHIA -- The United States Marine Corps celebrates its 249th birthday on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2024.
As every United States Marine can tell you, the Corps was birthed in a Philadelphia bar called Tun Tavern in 1775. Although that is a true statement, ye olde drinking establishments were a lot different from the watering holes we know today.
Sadly for the Marine Corps and its veterans, local residents of Philadelphia don’t have thousands of celebrating Marines packing the streets of the neighborhood every November 10th. All that remains of the historic birthplace is a marker where Tun Tavern once sat. Its original site near the waterfront is now occupied by Interstate 95.
Almost as old as the English presence in the New World, Tun Tavern was founded just three years after the city of Philadelphia itself. It was founded in 1685 by local Samuel Carpenter (Philadelphia was founded in 1682; the first English settlement was founded in 1607) on the corner of Tun Alley and Water Street, the city's first brew house -- and among the earliest in the North American colonies.
Before long, everyone around knew that the Tun Tavern was serving the best beers in Philadelphia, and it kept that reputation for more than a century. As a result, it became an important meeting place for city and colonial officials and, eventually, for revolutionaries.
With the turn of the 18th century, prominent Philadelphians and society members began holding official meetings at Tun Tavern. Charitable organizations like the St. George's Society and St. Andrew's Society, groups that helped needy colonists get on their feet, began meeting there. It even became a Grand Lodge for Philadelphia Freemasons.
It is now recognized as the birthplace for Freemasonry in what would become the United States, and home to the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. Benjamin Franklin was the third grand master of the lodge. So along with the Marine Corps, America's 2.3 million Freemasons can celebrate Tun Tavern as their origin.
Eventually, the owners of Tun Tavern began to recognize the importance of having some food to go along with their beverage offerings and expanded the tavern to include a restaurant, Peggy Mullan's Red Hot Beef Steak Club, by the 1740s. America's founding fathers were known to indulge in both and met there while in Philadelphia.
With its quality food and drink renowned across the colonies, when it came time for the Continental Congresses to meet in Philadelphia in the 1770s, they often found themselves at Tun Tavern, planning for the next steps in shaking off the yoke of the British crown in America. After all, Franklin had been organizing militias there to fight off American Indian tribes for decades by then. Why wouldn't it work for pesky European regents?
On top of drafting militiamen, in October 1775, a seven-person committee -- led by John Adams -- met at Tun Tavern to draft articles of war and commission a new naval fleet. But something was still missing from the colonies' new armed forces: Marines.
On Nov. 10, 1775, an innkeeper (and former Quaker) named Samuel Nicholas was assigned by the Continental Congress to raise the first two battalions of Marines, so he did it at -- where else? -- Tun Tavern. Nicholas was given the rank of captain and appointed commandant of the new Continental Marines. Robert Mullan, son of Peggy (of Red Hot Beef Steak fame), was the official proprietor of Tun Tavern and was dubbed "Chief Marine Recruiter."
Nicholas and Mullan recruited skilled marksmen to become the first Marines from a Conestoga wagon outside of the tavern. The first-ever company of Marines consisted of 100 Rhode Islanders. They, like the rest of the new Marine Corps, were posted aboard Continental Navy ships.
Throughout the Revolutionary War, Philadelphia was a contested city. It was the second-largest port city in the British Empire (after London itself). As capital of the rebel country, it was the target of the British from early in the war. The British held the city until their defeat at Saratoga, New York.
After France joined the war on the American side, Gen. William Howe resigned in Philadelphia in 1778, and his successor, Sir Henry Clinton, abandoned control of the city in favor of protecting the Eastern coast from a French attack. Tun Tavern stood the whole time, even as fighting raged in the streets.
In 1781, Tun Tavern burned down, a disastrous end to an illustrious and historic site and was never rebuilt. Marines visiting the Society Hill area of the city can visit the historical marker at 175 Front St. and learn more about its history at the nearby New Hall Military Museum.
For a taste of Tun Tavern, Marines and military history buffs can visit the U.S. National Museum of the Marine Corps' Tun Tavern in Virginia, which is decorated in the colonial style.
Have you ever wonder how the word "Jarhead" originated?
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If you’re a civilian, the word “jarhead” may conjure up the gory image of a person’s noggin encapsulated in a cylindrical glass container.
But if you’re a U.S. Marine, you know the term as a loving moniker. What you might not realize, however, is where that nickname originated.
“The term first appeared as early as World War II and referred to Marines’ appearance wearing their dress blue uniforms,” according to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. “The high collar on the uniform and the Marines’ head popping out of the top resembled a Mason Jar.”
At the time, it was intended to be an insult, but much like today’s stereotype of crayon eating, the Marines chose to own it as their own.
“Since World War II, the term has been applied more widely to Marine Corps recruits with their ‘squared head’ appearance because of the close-cropped haircuts,” the museum archive added. “Some Marines refer to the ‘high and tight’ haircut as a ‘Jarhead cut.’”
So synonymous has the term become with Marine Corps service that author Anthony Swofford, who served during the Gulf War, gave the name to his 2003 memoir. That book then served as the basis for the 2005 movie “Jarhead,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal.
According to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the jarhead moniker has “become a source of pride for all Marines.”
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