Marine Corps Birthday
November 10 @ 12:00 am - 11:30 pm UTC-5
The Marine Corps birthday is a day for all Marines – once a Marine, always a Marine – to celebrate their shared service, history, and legacy.
History of the Marine Corps Birthday
On Nov. 10th, 1775 the Continental Congress passed a resolution creating two battalions of Marines. According to the resolution, the Continental Marine Corps sought men who were “good seamen, or so acquainted with maritime affairs as to be able to serve to advantage by sea.”
Hundreds of men answered the call and mustered under the first Commandant, Samuel Nicholas. His first enlisted men found their way to Tun Tavern in Philadelphia, and the Marine Corps was born.
The Second Birth of The Marine Corps
Congress disbanded the Marine Corps after the War for Independence.
According to the U.S. Marine Corps official website: “Throughout the American Revolution, the Marines served with distinction aboard the Continental vessels, but with the ending of that conflict, the entire Naval Service was so neglected through lack of appropriations and necessary legislation that by 1785 it actually ceased to exist.”
A naval Quasi-War with France prompted an act of congress on July 11, 1798 that reestablished the Marine Corps. The military branch formed from this act continues to exist today, continuing to distinguish itself as one of the finest fighting forces in human history.
Marine Corps Birthday Traditions
In 1921, Maj. Gen. John Lejune, then Commandant of the Marine Corps, released a memo establishing Nov. 10, 1775 as the official birthday of the service.
Lejune wrote on Nov. 1, 1921:
“On Nov. 10, 1775, a Corps of Marines was created by a resolution of Continental Congress. Since that date many thousand men have borne the name ‘Marine.’ In memory of them it is fitting that we who are Marines should commemorate the birthday of our corps by calling to mind the glories of its long and illustrious history.”
Lejune’s message cemented Nov. 10 as the Marine Corps birthday and served as the first message from the Commandant to the Corps on its birthday.
The traditional message has continued in the century since and now has a place in every Marine Corps ball ceremony.