On November 10th, the U.S. Marine Corps celebrated its 237th birthday.
“The few, the proud” who serve are not only part of one of the most effective fighting forces in history, but also one of the most storied organizations in the world.
Here are 11 things you might not know about the Marines.
1. The first retired Marine to ever receive an honorary promotion was in a Stanley Kubrick movie.
In Full Metal Jacket, actor Tim Colceri is famous for his helicopter scene wherein he says over machine gun fire, “Anyone who runs is a VC. Anyone who stands still is a well-disciplined VC.”
He would have been even more famous in the part for which he was originally cast—as the strict and unrelenting senior drill instructor, Gunnery Sergeant Hartman. That role, however, went to R. Lee Ermey, who had been hired for the film as a technical advisor.
Ermey, a former Marine drill sergeant and Vietnam veteran, filmed a tense 20-minute reel of himself in character dressing down and squaring away the movie’s extras, without repeating himself, all while being pelted with tennis balls and oranges. When director Stanley Kubrick saw the video, he recast Ermey for the role on the spot.
Hartman became perhaps the most famous gunnery sergeant in the history of the Corps. Ermey, however, retired as a Staff Sergeant. In 2002, the Marine Corps granted him an honorary promotion in accordance with the rank for which he is most associated. He is the first retiree in the history of the Marines to receive such an honor.
2. Why they've fought 'From the Halls of Montezuma…'
The Marines’ Hymn famously begins, “From the Halls of Montezuma…” This refers to the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847, in which U.S. Marines conquered Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, and subsequently occupied the city as part of the Mexican-American War.
The battle is also famous (according to Marine tradition) for the establishment of the “blood stripe,” a red stripe sewn into the trousers of the uniform commemorating the Marines killed at Chapultepec.
3. …'To the shores of Tripoli.'
In 1801, the United States decided to do something about piracy in the Mediterranean, and President Jefferson sent in the Navy. In 1805, the Marines finished the job. The Battle of Derne, on the shores of Tripoli during the First Barbary War, was the decisive action of the war, and the first overseas land battle fought by the United States military.
In 2011, the U.S. Marine Corps returned to Libya as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
Please follow Military & Defense on Twitter and Facebook.