Happy Birthday Marine Corps

Each autumn, over the course of several weeks, Marines don their dress blues and gather to celebrate the Corps’ founding on Nov. 10, 1775.

In hotel ballrooms, casinos and base clubs around the world, they feast and dance and listen to tales of war – and of those who have died in service to their country. In every clime and place – from windowless offices and grassy parade decks, to ships at sea and combat zones in Afghanistan and Iraq – leathernecks will pause and celebrate their Corps. And in the tradition established 88 years ago by the 13th commandant, they will recall the birthday message delivered by Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune to mark the Corps’ 146th birthday.

“From the Battle of Trenton to the Argonne,” he wrote, “Marines have won foremost honors in war. …In every battle and skirmish since the birth of our corps, Marines have acquitted themselves with the greatest distinction, winning new honors on each occasion until the term ‘Marine’ has come to signify all that is highest in military efficiency and soldierly virtue.”

The following five "Tales of bravery" stories of combat heroism, carried out by Marines who’ve fought in Afghanistan, celebrate that same tradition today, as the Corps marks its 234th year. And as their medal citations confirm, these Marines espouse the service’s “highest traditions” and possess the virtues promoted throughout its history by legendary leathernecks such as Lejeune.

Happy birthday, Marines.