History and heritage

Marine mascot Chesty XIV becomes an NCO

By Hope Hodge Seck on August 27, 2014 Animals, History and heritage

Looks like America’s cuddliest Marine is getting a promotion. The official Marine Barracks Washington Facebook page is announcing that Chesty XIV, an English bulldog who is the official mascot of the Marine Corps will pin on a second chevron Friday. That event will coincide with the weekly evening parade at 8th and I, a public demonstration of Marine Corps pomp and circumstance that typically includes a chance for Chesty to greet his adoring fans. Chesty should remember to keep his nose clean, though. His equally jowly predecessor, Sgt. Chesty XIII, once received a demotion for snapping at then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta’s…

“Outpouring of love” after 12-year-old Honorary Marine dies of brain cancer

By Hope Hodge Seck on July 7, 2014 Battle Rattle, History and heritage, Honorary Marines

Last year, 12-year-old Ethan Arbelo earned his Eagle, Globe, and Anchor when he was made an Honorary Marine, joining a group of fewer than 100 who have received that title. Last week, Ethan’s family said he had earned his angel’s wings. Diagnosed with Anaplastic Astrocytoma Grade III, an aggressive brain cancer, in Feb. 2012, Ethan embarked on a mission to make the most of the time he had. His mom, Maria Maldonado Arbelo, herself a Marine veteran, created “Ethan’s Bucket List,” a tally of her son’s dream adventures. With donor support raised in online fundraisers and through various charitable organizations, Ethan…

Osprey squadron celebrates anniversary with new insignia

By Hope Hodge Seck on June 5, 2014 Aviation, History and heritage

A Marine Corps V-22 Osprey squadron is getting a makeover, just in time for its 62nd birthday. VMM-363, out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., created a new insignia to mark the anniversary, according to a Marine Corps news release. The squadron, known as the Lucky Red Lions, had an old insignia featuring a brick-red lion on a kelly-green shamrock background. The new insignia, which was awesomely commemorated in a birthday cake for the celebration, keeps the main elements of the design, but depicts the lion with a more modern stencil theme, with red ribbon banners at the top…

The crosses are back: after wildfire, 100 Marines restore Pendleton memorials

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 27, 2014 Battle Rattle, Camp Pendleton, History and heritage

Edit: Updates to correct caption credits Last week, we wrote about one Marine’s valiant mission to save a beloved Camp Pendleton memorial site from the wildfires that were burning through the base. Cpl. Marvin Arnold of Mike company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines organized a team of seven Marines for a trek up First Sergeant’s Hill at Camp San Mateo within the base, rescuing the nearly two dozen wooden memorial crosses just before the fires burned over the hill. The crosses are each specially marked and decorated to remember a fallen Pendleton Marine, frequently carried to the site and installed by…

Poll: Marine Corps still most prestigious military branch

By Hope Hodge Seck on May 23, 2014 Battle Rattle, History and heritage, Pop culture

The results are in. According to a new Gallup Poll, Americans overwhelmingly believe that the Marine Corps is the most prestigious branch of the armed services. No word on whether it’s the dress blues, the tough image, or the elite missions undertaken by the likes of Force Recon and MARSOC, but with 47 percent of the vote, the Marines polled nearly three times higher for prestige than the next runner-up, the U.S. Air Force. As you can see from the Gallup chart below, the Marine Corps has been slowly increasing its edge over the other services in terms of prestige,…

Commandant wishes female Marine vet a happy 100th birthday

By Hope Hodge Seck on April 25, 2014 History and heritage, Marines, women, World War II

Mary Cochrane enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1944 to “free a man to fight” in World War II by serving as a truck driver. On April 18 she celebrated her 100th birthday–made sweeter with a cake brought to her home by a detachment of reserve Marines, and a letter of congratulation from Marine commandant Gen. Jim Amos. The Marines, an inspector-instructor detachment from Peru, Indiana, spent time discussing Marine Corps memories with Cochrane and reviewing photos from her time as a young Marine. “I had never seen a Marine, by the way,” Cochrane said of arriving in San…

Gen. “Mad Dog” Mattis just gave what may be the most motivating speech of all time

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By Hope Hodge Seck on March 3, 2014 Battle Rattle, General officers, History and heritage

One of the Marine Corps’ most revered generals proved his mettle as a warrior poet recently, delivering a speech that summed up the Marine Corps ethos and experience–from bar fights to earth’s orbit. Gen. Jim Mattis, who retired last year from his post as head of U.S. Central Command after a 41-year career, gave this speech at the Marine Corps University Foundation’s 2014 Semper Fidelis Award Dinner on Feb. 22., where he accepted the award. The speech is just too good to abbreviate, so here’s the whole thing. I’ve put my favorite lines in bold. Long time since we served…

Snow sculpture depicts Iwo Jima flag-raising

By Hope Hodge Seck on February 17, 2014 History and heritage, Pop culture

Move over, Frosty. When the northern Virginia-D.C. area got a healthy foot of snow late last week, some creative souls saw a motivated opportunity. This photograph appeared on the internet forum Reddit, showing a detailed snow sculpture in the parking lot of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va. The sculpture depicts the famous 1945 flag-raising on Mount Suribachi, which was immortalized in an AP photograph snapped by Joe Rosenthal. That image is also captured in the Marine Corps Memorial outside Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C., and served as the inspiration for the spire on the…

Marine WWII vet returns Rising Sun flag to Japanese hometown

By Hope Hodge Seck on December 13, 2013 History and heritage, Veterans, World War II

A 92-year-old World War II veteran returned to Japan this week on a mission of peace: to return a flag he had taken in war some seven decades prior to its hometown. Stars and Stripes reported that Kenneth Udstad, formerly of 4th Marine Division, got the idea to return his Japanese war trophy — a Rising Sun flag — after hearing about another veteran who did the same. Udstad had taken the flag from a fallen Japanese soldier in 1944, and kept it among his possessions for 68 years. Udstad determined the flag’s origin by analyzing the Japanese characters on…

Marine band rocks out to Macklemore with rap, choreography at unit ball

By Hope Hodge Seck on November 27, 2013 Battle Rattle, Events, History and heritage

Kick off your Thanksgiving weekend with this kicking video, featuring the Third Marine Aircraft Wing Band, out of Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. It’s not your typical Marine Corps concert. The band rocks out with some Macklemore hits, featuring “Thrift Shop” (with a lyric rewrite) and finishing off with “Can’t hold us.” It just gets better and better a rapper rolls in on a scooter, then more Marines bounce in with a shopping cart…and what look like thrift store uniforms? [HTML1] “So this is our 3rd year doing these knock-down/drag-out Birthday Ball concerts… SSgt Justin Lienemann did an awesome job…

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