Connecticut Marines Celebrate 238th Birthday: Twice!

Don Knight gets first piece of cake as the oldest Marine on hand.

Let’s hear a big shout for the members of the Ridgefield CT. Detachment of the Marine Corps League!

They celebrated the 238th birthday of the Corps on Saturday, Nov. 9. The annual Ball adjourned about 2300 ( that’s 11 p.m. civilian time). But the Detachment reconvened at 1800 (that’s 6 p.m.) the next day, Sunday, Nov. 10, the honest-to-goodness birthday of the Corps, this time at the Detachment headquarters, also with an open bar and carving of a birthday cake. That celebration may still be in progress.

Two members of the USMC Combat Correspondents Association (USMCCCA) were in the spotlight at the first party on Saturday.

Don Knight of Kensington, MD, a World War II and Korean vet, has served as the annual awards chair for the USMCCCA. He was introduced as the oldest Marine on hand, thus eligible to participate in the traditional cutting (and eating) of the huge birthday cake. The cake was served piecemeal to all 100 attendees at the Ball. Knight later confided (to the Ball chairman) that he often felt as if he too had been born at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia in 1775, not in a Boston suburb in 1924.

Norman Hatch had a major role in the special birthday documentary film shown at the banquet. Hatch, from Alexandria VA, talked about the Tarawa island campaign in World War II. He came ashore during the battle as a combat cameraman. His documentary on “Marines at Tarawa” was later shown at movie theaters nationwide and was awarded an Oscar in 1944.

Richard Truitt, a platoon leader in the Korean War, serves the Ritchfield Detachment as the public information officer and chaplain. Truitt has co-authored a best-selling book on the art of public relations and was counsel to many national campaigns and programs before his retirement. He was a print judge for several of the USMCCCA’s Merit Awards programs.

Truitt’s words of prayer at the outset of the Nov. 9 birthday celebration included the following: “…those Marines who went before us, whose character was forged by discipline, tempered by duty and found faithful in times of greatest stress May their contributions inspire us to an even deeper commitment to the ideals for which they gave so much.”

Footnote: The League Detachment runs a large Toys for Tots program covering Fairfield County, CT. It followed the tragic shooting at the school in Newtown last Dec. 14 with distribution of hundreds of toy teddy bears donated by a local factory. It is gearing up for another campaign in December.