The few, the proud, the Marines…
Today, the US Marine Corps turns 249 years old. One of their early actions has provided much of the rich history of the Corps and it’s a story I love talking about.
Up until 1801, the Berber Muslims were extorting the US…forcing us to pay a tax or have our ships attacked when they were near North Africa.
It was written in their Koran, that all nations which had not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise.
They eventually told President Jefferson that they were increasing the annual extortion fee, and took a ship full of Americans captive.
Jefferson respond by sending 8 Marines and 500 mercenaries in to take care of business in 1801 in Derna Tripoli against a heavily defended garrison manned by 945 cavalry and 1,250 infantry! (The mercenaries were Muslims and Greeks that the Marines hired along the way and they weren’t all friendly…in fact, the Marines had to use the cannons against the mercs to protect the food.)
This battle is immortalized in the US Marine Corps hymn “…shores of Tripoli…”, the Marine officer sword, and even the name “Leatherneck”.
Our Marines and mercenaries sent to the Barbary Coast (Tripoli) wore coats with heavy leather around the neck so that their heads wouldn’t get lopped off by the Barbary pirates’ swords. The name “Leatherneck” stuck, we beat down the pirates, took their sword design, and the rest is history. That’s a VERY condensed version of the story and I encourage you to read more about it when you get a chance.
Normally, for the Marine Corps Birthday and Veterans’ Day, we donate 30% of sales to veterans’ charities and give veterans 30% off of tactical pens.
We’re still doing 30% off of tactical pens for veterans only >HERE<
but we’re donating 30% of today’s sales of tactical pens directly to Marines overseas as well as to the family of a fallen Marine named Chris Graham. You can take part by clicking >HERE< now.
Who was Chris?
Chris was an absolutely amazing man. He was my best friend and his passing has been a huge loss for myself and many, many others, including possibly you.
There is no other man I connected with on so many levels…Christian, husband of a strong wife, father to a son, committed to raising Conor as a Godly man in an unGodly world, thinker, reader, writer, pilot, son of a pilot, his passion for understanding learning, NLP, hypnosis, neurology, our incredible Constitution, unconventional warfare, survival & preparedness, and, of course, shooting.
Chris was a Marine helicopter pilot and then Force Recon Marine and shared a ton of stories with me…
Like a time when he was a Casevac (Casualty evacuation) pilot.
1/5 Marines were fighting in to and out of Saddam‘s presidential palace in Baghdad on the Tigris and it was considered too hot for helicopters. (It’s likely that you’ve seen highlight videos of this complete with tracer fire without knowing that it was Chris behind the stick.)
The airspace was closed because too many helicopters had been shot down.
But guys were seriously wounded and there were calls for Casevac.
Chris figured he’d either die in the process of getting guys out or someone above him would take credit after the fact…but he knew he couldn’t stand by and do nothing.
So he flew in under heavy fire, landed on the pool deck, and flew injured Marines out under heavy fire.
Multiple times.
5 times.
With Oliver North and his producer aboard recording it all for FNC.
That’s some real hero stuff right there…but Chris didn’t do it to be a hero. He did it because it would be too hard to live with himself if he didn’t.
Chris was a mustang Marine. I don’t remember his entire history off hand, but he enlisted and became a helicopter pilot, went back to school to get his degree, became a Force Recon Marine, founded the Marine Anti-Terrorism Batallion, and rose through the ranks and retired a few months ago as a Lt. Colonel.
Many of his tales were “better than fiction.”
One time, Chris had been sent to an area that had destabilized to do downrange sustainment training for our guys. He flew commercial and things got so bad by the time it was time to leave that they didn’t know who security at the airport was loyal to or if Chris would be allowed through. Being taken captive/prisoner was a possibility.
The walls of the airport were glass and there was a road that ran along the building, so they decided to take Chris to the airport in a truck with a mounted machine gun as a show of force.
They dropped him off, and then paced him in the truck as he walked through the airport. When he got to security, they stopped and had the machine gun pointed up & over the building…but in the direction of security.
My memory of the story was that security began giving Chris a hard time and Chris looked and nodded at the machinegunner and said, “They might have something to say about that.” Security looked, their eyes about popped out, and Chris wasn’t bothered again.
I’m going to miss Chris a ton.
I always called Chris up on November 10th to wish him “Happy Birthday” and see if he’d eaten his crayons.
Here’s to all of you crayon eaters.
There are a few copies of Chris’ novels still available on Amazon >HERE< Chris wrote 2 books almost a decade ago on Russia and China tampering with our elections that are worth reading.
8 Comments
HLAVA, Darren
November 10, 2019Just went to a 4th Marine Division Marine’s funeral last weekend and he would say never a former Marine. That is unless you were kicked out of the Corps or you brought dishonor to yourself or the Marines. I think it’s as simple as that. And if you don’t know who or what the 4th Mar Div is about… can you Wiki “Marine island hopping during WWII” and read up? Houston was such a humble man and I’m honored and privileged to know such Marines through the years and call them brothers.
Happy birthday, Semper Fi and keep guarthe gate for St. Pete.
Sgt macartney
December 28, 2017I would always take a man that chose the corps over other branches,
That daniel boone attitude shows desire and with that one can shape
Most perspective marines. To me unless crimal conviction all are
Marines
Dan Hanke
November 13, 2017U r both wrong sort of. There are Marines, then ex-marines (dishonorable discharge) and Marines not currently assigned to an active duty station! LOL! At least that’s what I learned in the Corps. No former Marines, just those not assigned to an active duty station! LOL!
Ox
November 13, 2017LOL…I am not going to argue with either of you about Marine Corps history. But I do have to say that my experience with Marines is that for many, once they become a Marine, it permeates every facet of their being. They may leave the Corps, but the changes that the Corps made never go away.
left coast chuck
November 10, 2017A couple of corrections. There are “former Marines”. You are a former Marine unless you were kicked out then you are an ex-marine.
Secondly, the sword with the Mameluke hilt presented to Lt. Presley O’Bannon was presented by a Viceroy of the Ottoman Empire in gratitude for his actions against the Barbary pirates. It was made the official sword of all Marine Corps officers in 1825 by the then Commandant of the Marine Corps.
As a former Marine, had to make those slight corrections to your narrative. If I make it a couple more years, I may become the oldest living former Marine in the country. This day 62 years ago I was at Tent Camp Two, Camp Joseph H. Pendleton, Oceanside, California awaiting transfer overseas to the Third Marine Division. We celebrated the Marine Corps Birthday in a Butler building that served as the mess hall for Tent Camp Two which was located off Basilone Road, named after Sergeant John Basilone. He was a recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions in defense of positions on Guadalcanal. He was nicknamed Machine Gun John because he was one of, if not THE, leading expert on the 1917 .30 caliber machine gun in use in the Marine Corps at that time. He modified it so that he could shoot it off hand and used that in a desperate defense of Edison Ridge where his machine gun platoon held off the Japanese Sendai Regiment, sending most of them to hell.
At this late date I don’t remember if Tent Camp Two was part of Camp Onofre or was a separate camp. I believe Tent Camp Two also served as an initial refugee camp for the Vietnamese refugees our government abandoned when the Communists overran South Viet Nam.
left coast chuck
former Marine 1955 – 1963
Ox
November 10, 2017Hey Chuck, I’m not going to argue with a Marine…current or former…about Corps history, but it’s my understanding from friends and family that you join the Army, join the Navy, join the Air Force, and you may join the Marine Corps, but you BECOME a Marine and once a Marine, always a Marine…unless you get a big chicken dinner.
Thanks for the info on the sword, and it would be quite the honor to be the oldest living former Marine. Let me know as that develops.
Ox
left coast chuck
November 10, 2017If you don’t make it through boot camp you were never a Marine. If you make it through boot camp but get kicked out one way or another, you are an ex-Marine. I think it should be X-Marine, but most folks would find that confusing. Former Marines are folks who left the Marine Corps under honorable conditions but are no longer on active duty nor retired. The doctors say, “Well, your in good health” and then add the kicker, “For a man your age.” Despite rumors to the contrary, it is not true that I qualified at the rifle range in boot camp with a muzzle loader. It was a breach loader and we used those new fangled metallic cartridges.
Michael A. Gilliam
November 10, 2020Hey Chuck, thank you for your service and for enlightening me on USMC History. I was in an accident while still in High School and I am basically re-constructed from head to toe. I tried to join the Marines a couple years later but I guess I have too much metal in my body and a few joints that don’t bend as far as they should. Either way, I will ALWAYS be in awe of the United States Marine Corps and the Men they mold.
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