USMC Birthday 2021

I recall the Marine Corps League and how it took my best friend, the late Dewitt Casey, away from me.

Whereas prior to this time we were boon companions and virtually unseparable; when the Marines retook him he was lost to me forever by and large.

Once a marine always a marine. He was happy to belong and participate fully.

Innumerable times I would stop by his place in Red Bank, South Carolina for a visit to find him out and about. Later I would learn of his latest escapades with the Corps like trips to Paris Island and such.

Then one fateful day a few years into his discovery of 'the league' he spent the night at the VA Hospital and came back around six pm with the news that he had several blocked vessels in his heart and was 'inoperable'. Very soon afterwards he returned from a Christmas visit to Sambo and Sharon's house in Lancaster and was gone the next day having passed on Cedarcrest at the wheel of his automobile while returning from local errands.

He was buried in the cemetery at Lancaster, SC where we spent considerable time over the years in that Marine Corps League uniform he so dearly loved.

The United States Marine Corps Birthday is celebrated every year on November 10th replete with a traditional and formal ball and cake-cutting ceremony.

On this day in 1775 the Continental Marines were established.

So as the adage goes 'once a marine always a marine'. The devil dog Dewitt Casey is in heaven, likely still dressed in that uniform he took me all over the place while in pursuit of the various pieces from which it is comprised. I have missed him sorely over the years.

Rest in peace.