Marine Corps Birthday...Ready...Two

Following up on the post just below this one, the Birthday dinner was terrific. I didn't know anyone when I got there, but I did when I left. One of my table mates was a Captain in 10th Marines (artillery). He was at Camp Lejeune when I was there and went on a Med cruise with my old outfit, 3/8, a year or so before I got there. Neither of us had met anybody else that had been to Vieques so we had a lot to talk about. That was brought home by Mrs. G when I noticed I was the last one eating - "Well of course you are! You haven't shut up since the food got here!". Heh.

Dinner was soup, salad, rolls, a humungoid ribeye done perfectly to my specs ("Tear off its horns, wipe its ass, and walk it through a warm room!"), baked potato (the finest butter/sour cream/chives delivery system known to man), and some veggies that were a little too al dente for my no dente. It was excellent. And of course, a piece of birthday cake.

Following tradition, the first and second piece of cake go to the oldest and youngest Marine present. Here they cut it together with a very nice cake knife:

Click to embiggen

The gent on the left enlisted in 1942 and spent WWII in the Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Vella Lavella, etc.) as a ground crew chief in the Marine Air Wing.

The younger gent enlisted in 2001 and did a tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Tradition was served. The older generation symbolically handed down the tribal memory to the younger.

Me 'n Mrs. G had a great time and will be back next year.

As an afterthought, I didn't notice the blonde in the blue dress until I downloaded the photo. I'll definitely be back next year!