MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- “The Halls of Montezuma were in our hands!”
Those were the words of a motivated Sgt. David M. Williams, a maintenance management specialist from 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, as he represented the Marines from the Mexican-American War-era during this year’s Marine Corps birthday celebration Nov. 9.
Marines celebrate their birthday in every clime and place, from the deserts of Iraq to the grass of the 11 Area Parade Field.
This year’s 230th birthday was celebrated with the annual Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and I Marine Expeditionary Force birthday pageant. The event celebrated Marines from the 1775 Revolutionary War to the present day “War on Terrorism.”
More than two dozen Marines, from various units on base, dressed in the historical uniform of the Marine from their respective time period. From the center of the parade field, each Marine gave a historical account of their job and role as a United States Marine of the past.
“It was nerve racking,” said Lance Cpl. Edward H. Son, an electro-optical ordnance repairer who represented the Marines from World War I. “But it was an honor to wear the World War I Marine Corps uniform.”
Lieutenant Gen. John F. Sattler, commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force, Maj. Gen. Michael R. Lehnert, commanding general of Marine Corps Installations West, Maj. Gen. Richard F. Natonski, commanding general of 1st Marine Division, Brigadier Gen. David G. Reist, commanding general of 1st Marine Logistics Group, and Brig. Gen. Richard C. Zilmer, commanding general of Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, were in attendance. The annual cake-cutting ceremony was performed by Maj. Gen. Lehnert as he cut the birthday cake and passed it on to the oldest and youngest Marines present.
The Camp Pendleton History and Museums provided the old Marine uniforms from their inventory. All uniforms from World War II to present day were authentic.
“I wondered what the life of a WWII lady Marine was like, the passion she may of felt for the (Marine) Corps and her country,” said Lance Cpl. Angela M. Hughes, an administrative clerk with 1st Marine Logistics Group, who portrayed a WWII-era Marine. “By looking at the faces of the previous, current, and Marines to be, I knew I had a message from the past to deliver to the future.”