Ambassador
James B. Cunningham

Biography

Speeches

U.S. Ambassador James B. Cunningham's Remarks at 234th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps November 7, 2009

U.S. Ambassador James B. Cunningham at 234th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps November 7, 2009

Good evening. Thanks to all of you for joining us.  Staff Sergeant Barra, members of the US Embassy Marine Security Guard detachment, honored guests, Ambassadors, colleagues; it is an honor and a true pleasure for my wife and me to be here with you tonight to celebrate the 234th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. 

I would like to begin by reading from Secretary of State’s birthday message.

It is my great pleasure and privilege to extend the Department of State's best wishes to Marines worldwide on this, the 234th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Marine Corps.

To every Marine -- those currently in uniform and those who have served in the past -- I wish to thank you for your dedication, unwavering commitment to duty, bravery, and willingness to serve.

On this special occasion, I especially acknowledge and extend the Department's gratitude to all who have served as Marine Security Guards.  Throughout the history of the U.S. Marine Corps, Marines have assisted the U.S. diplomatic corps by taking on special missions as guardians of sensitive government information, guards for embassies and legations, and protectors of Americans caught up in dangerous situations in foreign lands.

In countless challenges to their courage and resourcefulness, since 1946Marine Security Guards have served with distinction, pride, and honor in their mission to prevent the compromise of classified information vital to national security and protect U.S. citizens and U.S. government property abroad during times of crisis.

Indeed, as we celebrate this 234th anniversary, let us also remember the many U.S. Marines who continue to advance U.S. foreign policy interests thousands of miles away from home and family, and especially those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

To the valiant men and women of the U.S. Marine Corps, to those who have served and those who have fallen, I salute you for your fearlessness, willingness to serve, and dedication to our country.

Happy 234th birthday, Semper Fidelis Marines!  -- Hillary Rodham Clinton

Tonight we are honored to welcome Commander Carl Meuser and Commander Grant Dunn from the USS Higgins which is currently in port in Haifa.  It is fitting tonight to remember Colonel William Higgins, United States Marine Corps, for whom the ship is named. While serving as Chief of the Observer Group Lebanon, he was taken hostage in 1988 and later murdered.  The Marine Corps Birthday has always been both a celebratory and somber occasion: while we gather for a party, we are also here to remember those Marines who have served our country with their common virtue of uncommon valor.

The Marines have been serving and sacrificing for the ideals of the United States for even longer than our nation has existed.  The Marines claim November 10, 1775 as their official birthday.  Any Marine will tell you that the Corps was not born in Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 

On November 10th, 1775, the Second Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia when it voted to establish two new Marine battalions.  The Congress put a delegate named Samuel Nicholas in charge. As soon as the meeting adjourned, as was common at the time, he headed straight for Tun Tavern, a waterfront bar.

There, he commissioned the owner of the tavern, Robert Mullan, “chief Marine Recruiter.”  Tun Tavern thus became the United States’ first Marine Corps Recruiting Station, enticing potential young recruits with cold beer – and the opportunity to serve what had not yet been declared the United States of America.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the Marine Security Guard program.  In January 1949, the first Marines deployed to serve at our embassies in Tangiers and Bangkok.  Today, more than 1200 Marine Security Guards serve at 149 posts worldwide.

But cooperation between the United States Marines and the US diplomatic corps stretches much further back into our early history.  Diplomats and Marines worked together in some of our earliest battles, one of which was the march to the shores of Tripoli.

In the early years of the United States’ existence, the Barbary Pirates of North Africa terrorized American merchant ships sailing in the Mediterranean. In 1801 the Pasha of Tunis declared war on the United States by chopping down the flag pole at the US Consulate in Tunis.  War raged on the seas of North Africa for the next three years. In 1804, the former Consul General of Tunis, William Eaton, was re-commissioned into the Navy. The former diplomat secured a small detachment of eight Marines and began a march to Tripoli, recruiting about 500 mercenaries along the way. 

In the turning point of the war, Eaton and his army – led by the Marines – planted the United States flag on the shores of Tripoli, marking the first time in history that our flag was raised in victory on foreign soil.

Nearly 150 years later, another small band of Marines planted the United States flag on the foreign soil of Iwo Jima. The moment – and the men – were immortalized by the iconic photograph.  The men represent the entire Marine Corps.  I think it’s important to remember, though, that each of them has a name – and a story.

There is PFC Ira Hayes, a native American of the Pima tribe of Arizona and Sergeant Michael Strank, a Pennsylvania coal miner. Corporal Harlon Block came from the Texas oil fields and PFC Franklin Sousley from his family farm in Kentucky. PFC Rene Gagnon was the only child of French-Canadian immigrants from Quebec, and corpsman John Bradley was studying to be a funeral director.  Of the six Marines, Sousley, Block and Strank all lost their lives on Iwo Jima.

Like the Marines who planted the flag at Iwo Jima, our detachment too, represents a broad cross-section of the United States. They hail from Texas, Tennessee, Nebraska, Colorado, Georgia and South Carolina. One of them was even born abroad, in Zaire, to missionary parents.   We here at the Embassy are grateful to them for their service and contributions to our community. 

Tonight, members of the Marine Detachment Tel Aviv, on behalf of all of us who have the privilege of working with you here:  we join you in honoring the Marines who have gone before you.  Happy Birthday! Semper Fi!