Corrected-Marine Corps celebrates 241st birthday

Photos and article by Mary Alice Murphy

On Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016, the Gaffney-Oglesby Marine Corps League Detachment 1328 held a party for the 241st birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Dean Bearup served as the master of ceremonies. Detachment member George Morrison, Jr. and his son, George Morrison III, posted the colors.

Megan Gorog, a home-schooled ninth-grader, sang The National Anthem, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by Bearup and the invocation given by detachment member Robert Lopez.

Collins and Morrison presented the birthday cake.

A Marine from Deming, Robert Schloss, read: "I Am a Marine," about what it means to be a Marine.

Dinner was served, and then detachment member Frank Donohue read the 1921 message from then-Commandant of the Marine Corps Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune.

Collins read the present Marine Corps Commandant Robert Neller's message.

The cake cutting ceremony uses a ceremonial Ottoman sword, in this case wielded by Collins to cut the first and second pieces of cake. The first goes to the oldest Marine in attendance, World War II veteran Leonard Pritikin, and the second to the youngest Marine, Samuel Martin.

Pritikin was also the guest of honor. He read a poem, "Love."

And then talked about how he became a Marine. He was born on May 17, 1920. When he was 16 years old in 1936, the final scene in a movie had a man wearing Marine dress blues. "I decided at that moment that I wanted to be a Marine."

In September 1938, Hitler's Army invaded Poland and started World War II. "My uncle and I finally talked my dad into letting me join the Marine Reserve. We drilled one night a week and for two weeks in the summer. But to be a Marine, you need at least 24 sound teeth. My dentist fixed three of them, when I joined. I learned the history of the Marine Corps. We, in February 1940 marched through Chicago to the train station and were taken to Ohio to Camp Perry. The pay for a private was $21 a month. In October 1940, President Roosevelt federalized the National Guard. I was supposed to go with the 9th battalion to Iceland, but they went without me. I was sent to San Diego to boot camp. Because of my experience in the reserves, I helped the drill sergeants make Marines out of the boys. I was only supposed to go to boot camp to get trained in rifles, but I was sent to the base service company."

He said most weekends, they went to Los Angeles. "One day they were looking for volunteers for China duty, which was the best duty. I was watching guys getting ready to go to China. A fellow wanted to sell his blues. I bought them. They got on the transports and in the middle of the ocean the ship turned back to San Diego."

"I decided I would apply for a change of station to one near Chicago, which was home," Pritikin said. "I got the transfer and got a 10-day furlough. I got home on Saturday; Pearl Harbor was bombed on Sunday. Monday, the U.S. declared war, and on Tuesday, I got a notice that my furlough was canceled." He served in the Pacific Theater.

Detachment member Don Spann explained the symbolism of the POW-MIA table, with its white tablecloth, inverted glass, a rose, a candle and a chair laid against the table.

The Marines honored the family of Curtis Maxwell, a Marine survivor of Iwo Jima during World War II, who recently died. Two other survivors of Iwo Jima were recognized among those attendingG