COLUMBUS, Ohio –
The Defense Supply Center Columbus commemorated the U.S. Marine Corps’ 244th birthday Nov. 13 in a “Tun Tavern”-style celebration at the installation’s Bunker reception hall hosted by the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime.
In military lore, Tun Tavern was a Philadelphia tavern and brewery regarded as the site where what became the United States Marine Corps held its first recruitment drive during the American Revolution.
The afternoon event began with a video message from the current Marine Corps commandant Gen. David Berger, followed by the Marine Prayer and the reading of Gen. John Lejeune’s 1921 birthday message to the Corps. Lejeune was the Marine Corps’ 13th commandant and namesake of Camp Lejeune, a military training facility in North Carolina.
The reading was followed by the traditional cake-cutting with the oldest and youngest Marine. Former Whitehall Mayor and Marine veteran John Wolfe and Shane Kurilla, a retired Marine with the Defense Logistics Agency Land and Maritime, had the honor of eating the first slices.
Event organizer Marine Corps Maj. Jeffrey Cisek said celebrating the service’s birthday is an opportunity to bring past and present service members together and remind them of the support around them.
“We’re here for each other, and whether we’re fighting some mission in a hot place, a cold place, under fire or helping each other with our families, we’re here for each other,” said Cisek, a deputy division chief in DLA Land and Maritime’s Land Customer Operations Directorate.
DLA Land and Maritime Commander Navy Rear. Adm. John Palmer closed out the event, citing takeaways from career assignments where he worked with Marines and saw their contributions up close.
“They do a wonderful job – their reputation goes before them – and that says a lot about the great legacy left by so many people. I thank you all for your great service to the U.S. Marine Corps,” Palmer concluded.