thedrifter
11-20-06, 04:07 PM
Semper Fi! Local Marines celebrate a birthday
ManchesterJournal.com
The Manchester Journal
Article Launched:11/20/2006 03:16:37 PM EST
Friday, November 17
Andrew McKeever
Managing Editor
MANCHESTER - Once a Marine, always a Marine.
There's a reason for that, said Jack Chapin of Manchester, at a luncheon at Mulligan's restaurant organized by a local chapter of Marine Corps veterans that has been gathering every Nov. 10 to celebrate the birthday of the smallest of the nation's military branches, now 231 years old.
"The training you get at the Marines Corps lasts with you forever," he said. "You're never the same again."
Nearly 145 years before Veterans Day became a day to honor all military veterans for their service, the U.S. Marine Corps was born, on Nov. 10, 1775, making them older than the nation itself. Eight years ago Chapin organized the first local birthday lunch for the former active members of the Corps - don't call them ex-Marines - and six people showed up. On Friday, there were more than 30 on hand to swap stories, get caught up with friends and reflect on the past.
The Marine Corps birthday is celebrated around the world, wherever Marines are stationed or living. At each gathering, certain traditions are observed - a reading of a message from from the current Marine Corps commandant to a cutting a birthday cake by the oldest and youngest marines present. Last Friday at Mulligan's Restaurant, that ritual was performed by Chapin, 86, and Gilbert Debus, 41, from Danby.
The past few years the birthday lunch has been organized by local businessman Don Keelan, who said it as a great way for formerly active Marines who hail from all walks of life and former rank to touch base with the common denominator that joins them together - their shared experience of the Marines.
"You get an almost 60-year perspective of the Marine Corps all in one room," from World War II vets all the way to the present, he said.
Marine Corps history has been much in the news lately - Clint Eastwood's new movie "Flags of our Fathers," a look back at the lives of the six Marines who raised the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima is making the rounds of movie theaters to critical acclaim, and because of Iraq, where Marines have figured prominently.
"The worst part of Iraq is Anbar Province," Chapin said, referring to a stretch of that country that runs west from Baghdad all the way to the Syrian and Saudi Arabian borders, and includes most of the so-called "Sunni triangle" that has seen some of the toughest fighting since the Iraqi insurgency got underway in late 2003. "So guess who they sent in there - Marines. When they have the worst jobs to do, they send in the Marines."
It shows the traditions of the Corps are vibrant and intact, said Chapin. He was wounded on Saipan and fought in several other amphibious assaults on Japanese-held Pacific islands during World War II, he said.
Bob Dombroski of Manchester was another Marine who landed on Iwo Jima in the very early stages of the campaign and was badly shot up, wounded in both legs and forced to seek cover in a ditch for more than 12 hours until Navy Corpsmen, as the Marines call their combat medics, were able to reach him and get him out. They saved his life, he said.
"I never knew who they were, but thank God for the Navy Corpsmen," he said.
There's a special mystique that goes with being a Marine, and a large part of that grows out of the traditions and shared sense of history that is imparted at an early stage of each Marine's career. Early on, Marines learn about the achievements and accomplishments of those who went before them, from the Revolutionary War to the present, from Tripoli to Fallujah, Chapin said.
Close bonds are formed between those who survive the rigorous training, and with fewer than 200,000 Marines in uniform, there is a special camaraderie that goes with being a Marine, said Bruce Charbonneau of Dorset.
"We are a band of brothers, " he said. "The thought is we never leave a fellow Marine behind - people have a heartfelt concern for each other."
His father served in the Marines during World War II, and Charbonneau, who served in the Corps from 1977-98, never considered joining any other branch of the armed services, he said.
Like Chapin, Charbonneau said there wasn't a day that went by in civilian life when the Marine Corps ethic of duty, honor, integrity and country didn't come into play in one way or another.
When he retired from active service however, he found that those values were "sorely missing in the civilian world," he said.
"It makes you realize just how special your time in the Marine Corps was," he said.
Ellie
ManchesterJournal.com
The Manchester Journal
Article Launched:11/20/2006 03:16:37 PM EST
Friday, November 17
Andrew McKeever
Managing Editor
MANCHESTER - Once a Marine, always a Marine.
There's a reason for that, said Jack Chapin of Manchester, at a luncheon at Mulligan's restaurant organized by a local chapter of Marine Corps veterans that has been gathering every Nov. 10 to celebrate the birthday of the smallest of the nation's military branches, now 231 years old.
"The training you get at the Marines Corps lasts with you forever," he said. "You're never the same again."
Nearly 145 years before Veterans Day became a day to honor all military veterans for their service, the U.S. Marine Corps was born, on Nov. 10, 1775, making them older than the nation itself. Eight years ago Chapin organized the first local birthday lunch for the former active members of the Corps - don't call them ex-Marines - and six people showed up. On Friday, there were more than 30 on hand to swap stories, get caught up with friends and reflect on the past.
The Marine Corps birthday is celebrated around the world, wherever Marines are stationed or living. At each gathering, certain traditions are observed - a reading of a message from from the current Marine Corps commandant to a cutting a birthday cake by the oldest and youngest marines present. Last Friday at Mulligan's Restaurant, that ritual was performed by Chapin, 86, and Gilbert Debus, 41, from Danby.
The past few years the birthday lunch has been organized by local businessman Don Keelan, who said it as a great way for formerly active Marines who hail from all walks of life and former rank to touch base with the common denominator that joins them together - their shared experience of the Marines.
"You get an almost 60-year perspective of the Marine Corps all in one room," from World War II vets all the way to the present, he said.
Marine Corps history has been much in the news lately - Clint Eastwood's new movie "Flags of our Fathers," a look back at the lives of the six Marines who raised the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima is making the rounds of movie theaters to critical acclaim, and because of Iraq, where Marines have figured prominently.
"The worst part of Iraq is Anbar Province," Chapin said, referring to a stretch of that country that runs west from Baghdad all the way to the Syrian and Saudi Arabian borders, and includes most of the so-called "Sunni triangle" that has seen some of the toughest fighting since the Iraqi insurgency got underway in late 2003. "So guess who they sent in there - Marines. When they have the worst jobs to do, they send in the Marines."
It shows the traditions of the Corps are vibrant and intact, said Chapin. He was wounded on Saipan and fought in several other amphibious assaults on Japanese-held Pacific islands during World War II, he said.
Bob Dombroski of Manchester was another Marine who landed on Iwo Jima in the very early stages of the campaign and was badly shot up, wounded in both legs and forced to seek cover in a ditch for more than 12 hours until Navy Corpsmen, as the Marines call their combat medics, were able to reach him and get him out. They saved his life, he said.
"I never knew who they were, but thank God for the Navy Corpsmen," he said.
There's a special mystique that goes with being a Marine, and a large part of that grows out of the traditions and shared sense of history that is imparted at an early stage of each Marine's career. Early on, Marines learn about the achievements and accomplishments of those who went before them, from the Revolutionary War to the present, from Tripoli to Fallujah, Chapin said.
Close bonds are formed between those who survive the rigorous training, and with fewer than 200,000 Marines in uniform, there is a special camaraderie that goes with being a Marine, said Bruce Charbonneau of Dorset.
"We are a band of brothers, " he said. "The thought is we never leave a fellow Marine behind - people have a heartfelt concern for each other."
His father served in the Marines during World War II, and Charbonneau, who served in the Corps from 1977-98, never considered joining any other branch of the armed services, he said.
Like Chapin, Charbonneau said there wasn't a day that went by in civilian life when the Marine Corps ethic of duty, honor, integrity and country didn't come into play in one way or another.
When he retired from active service however, he found that those values were "sorely missing in the civilian world," he said.
"It makes you realize just how special your time in the Marine Corps was," he said.
Ellie