Happy birthday, United States Marine Corps

by Jim Wright, Senior Columnist of The Dallas Morning News

Sunday will be the 227th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, celebrated with pomp and ceremony around the world by Marines of all ages.

There are no "ex-Marines," you see, only old Marines. The pomp and ceremony may be just the raising of a glass by a couple of graying guys who served together at Guadalcanal or Chosin or Khe Sanh, but the Old Corps tie binds. It counts.

The birthplace of the Corps was, to the delight of all of us later arrivals, a tavern - Tun Tavern. The outfit being recruited there would be naval infantry, soldiers of the sea. The idea of serving in such a group was so appealing that the barkeeper himself signed up as one of the Corps' first captains. Ever since, Marines often gather in the nearest tavern, bar or base slop chute to renew this venerable link with the past.

Every Marine boot learns these vital historical facts early at San Diego or Paris Island. Or Quantico, where officer candidates are wrung out by DIs holding advanced degrees in applied discipline from those other two garden spots. The history and traditions of the corps are the base of every Marine's psychological arsenal, "as much a part of his equipment as his pack, his rifle or his ammunition," to quote that bible of the Corps, the Guidebook for Marines.

It's not just a corps, you see, it's a culture.

Even today, in these times of ethical chaos and quick-change loyalties, the effects of total immersion in this culture remain constant. They are immutable - they no doubt will be there when Marines are armed with ray guns, unchanged form the days of muzzle-loading rifles. It is a culture that works, and once you are in it, it lasts for a lifetime.

The generation that went through boot camp in the early 1940s had just come through a grinding, nationwide depression. They weren't spoiled darlings - they are the best generation of this century, I think - and even these tough kids found the Corps a hard school. But its lessons paid off for them in the World War II combat for which they were trained an in their later life as well.

For one thing, the Corps demands that Marines tell the truth. Not some version of the truth that depends on what your definition of it is, or the politically correct truth in vogue today, or the truth that will make the listener happy, but the real truth as the Marine knows it. This isn't trendy in this slick age, but when things get down and dirty, other Marines may have to bet their lives on what any Marine declares to be true.

We aren't talking yarns, sea stories or bar talk but serious declarations of facts. A friend of mine, taking over a rifle platoon in Vietnam, reminded his people that he required the absolute truth from every man: "If you tell me the sky is brown, I'll believe you, but if you ever lie to me, you're dead meat."

This Marine, Jim Webb, was secretary of the Navy in the Reagan administration. Campaign promises had been made to restore the 500-ship fleet, and when that promise wasn't kept, Jim Webb stood up and resigned in public protest. More recently, Scott Ritter, another old Marine heading the arms inspection team in Iraq, did the same thing - planted his feet, resigned in protest to Washington's corner-cutting and told Congress and the world why.

Marines, young or old, do that. Which may not make them popular in a society given to going along to get along, but it does mean when a Marine tells you the sky is brown, you pretty well can count on its being brown. To Marines, that matters.

Another currently unfashionable attitude is embodied in the Marines' motto, "Semper Fidelis," always faithful. To their country and to other Marines. Marines know they can count on one another, know that no other Marine will sell them out, know that if they are wounded or surrounded, other Marines will strive, to the death if necessary, to come to their aid. Marines' bedrock principle of never abandoning their wounded has been demonstrated thousands of times in combat.

And never more spectacularly than at Chosin in Korea. Two regiments of the 1st Marine Division were cut off by a Red Chinese army in November 1950. Mao had ordered this army to wipe out the famed division. But the 5th and 7th Marines clenched rifle companies like a fist and punched through, as the 1st Marines fought their way in from the east. A division against an army, but the army got shredded. The Marines marched to the sea, bringing all their wounded and equipment, plus thousands of survivors from units they rescued coming out. The Marines had destroyed four Chinese divisions and driven four more from combat.

Many of these men still suffer pains every chilly day from frostbite suffered on the Chosin road. But then, now and for life, they are "proud to claim the title of United States Marine." As are we all. Happy birthday, Marines.