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thedrifter
11-11-05, 06:24 AM
Marines celebrate 230th birthday
Youngest, oldest Marines share in birthday cake
Published Fri, Nov 11, 2005
By GEOFF ZIEZULEWICZ
The Beaufort Gazette

Lance Cpl. John Clegg and Master Gunnery Sgt. Allen Dedmon share little in common other than their posts at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort and their allegiance to the Corps.
But on Thursday morning, they both ate off the three-tiered birthday cake that marked the 230th birthday of the Marine Corps.

Amid the air station's squadrons and a proud yet solemn birthday ceremony, Clegg, 18, and Dedmon, 49, represented the youngest and oldest Marines stationed on the base, the past and future of the Marine Corps.

The Devil Dogs trace their roots to Nov. 10, 1775, when the Second Continental Congress at the start of American Revolution raised two battalions of Continental Marines.

The group was disbanded until 1798 when President John Adams approved a bill creating the Marine Corps. And despite their different duties on base, Clegg and Dedmon both said that the Corps has given their lives a sense of purpose and direction.

"It keeps me young," Dedmon said after the

ceremony.

This was the third year he received a slice of the big cake as the air station's oldest Marine. "It's a great honor."

Clegg said he joined the Corps around his

17th birthday.

"Not everyone gets to be the youngest or oldest," he said.

After presentation of the colors, Col. Robert Walsh, commanding officer of Marine Aircraft Group 31, based at the air station, said the birthday is a time to revel in being a Marine.

It's also a time to remember those who have come before, he said.

"There is no higher calling than being a Marine," Walsh said, adding that the Corps' character has been "purchased in blood."

He asked those in attendance to think of the Marines who are fighting on the Iraq border with Syria in an attempt to flush out insurgent strongholds.

"Think about what it means, and prepare yourself for when you are called," Walsh said.

The Marine Corps is a force larger than the sum of its parts, but those parts make the overall unit run, said Col. Robert Lanham, commanding officer of the air station.

"It's a title that can't be inherited, it can't be purchased with any coin," he said. "It's impossible to rent, and it cannot be lent."

After the cake was cut with a sword, to remind the Marines of their heritage, Dedmon said that, young or old, the Corps will stay with each and every man and woman who serves.

"They're all going to go home one day and be better citizens," he said.

Contact Geoff Ziezulewicz at 986-5539 or geoffz@beaufortgazette.com. To comment: beaufortgazette.com

Ellie