With a room of red coats, garrison caps, metals and a Semper Fidelis proudly displayed on the podium,  Monday Nov. 10 represented an important celebration, the 250th birthday of the Marine Corps. 

Brazos Valley Marine Corps League Det. 1391 was celebrated at Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW, Post 4692 in honor of the Marine Corps’ 250th birthday. A community celebration featured the array of traditional Marine birthday celebrations, including a public cake-cutting ceremony. 

“It’s a great program, everyone did a really great job getting everything together,” associate member Sherri Echols ‘91 said. “Marines only have a 250th birthday once, so it’s a really big deal today and we got a big crowd.”

Lt. Col. (Ret.) Amy Raines ‘93 served with the Marine Corps for 28 years and has been a member of the Brazos Valley Marine Corps League detachment for about 10 years. Raines said she was extremely proud of the display of traditions, with the turnout of the community, making it a celebration worthy of the 250th. This had been the Brazos Valley Marine Corps League’s first-ever hosted cake cutting ceremony, according to Raines, an event that is hardly done public, especially with no expense to guests at that. 

“This is the first time we’ve done a Marine Corps birthday cake cutting celebration,” Raines said. “It was a heavy lift, a lot of moving parts and I think we did a pretty good job getting everything pulled together.”

According to the Marine Corps Association, backed by Raines, the cake is cut with a sword, with the first piece being handed to the Guest of Honor — Col. Bradford Tippett ‘95. The next slice is given to the oldest marine and the third slice is awarded to the youngest marine. This tradition signifies the passing of knowledge and wisdom, with a display of camaraderie. 

“We had the Brazos Valley Chorale sing some songs,” Raines said. “And then Colonel Tippett spoke for a while, we had the Commandant’s message, Gen. [John A.] Lejeune’s message; the Commandant’s video ran for about 10 minutes, and we concluded the ceremony for lunch. I think the community enjoyed it, we got a lot of positive feedback.”

Raines describes the traditions being brought into play, not just with the cake cutting, but also with Lejeune’s message and the commandant’s message, as unlike any other past celebration. These traditions are usually more private, reserved mostly for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. Thanks to a lot of fundraising and planning, Raines said they were able to pull off a more public event, garnered toward the community and Marines alike. She said it was with the sponsors’ and support that they made this dream a reality. 

“The event, we thought it would turn out nice, but it turned out bigger than our expectations with all the people, even special people like the dignitaries in town,” Marine Corps veteran Dennis Velasquez said. 

Velasquez, who now serves his fellow Marines as the Commander of the VFW Post 4692, said that high-ranking community figures, including James Edge and Paul Torres, two Bryan city council members, made appearances at the celebration. 

“They took the blueprint of the tradition that they do at Marine Corps balls and all those ceremonies and they applied it today,” Velasquez said. “They did exactly the Marine Corps traditions how you’re supposed to; spot on, it was outstanding.”

With cake, catering, and traditions, the Marines and league members said they were extremely happy to have shared such an event with their fellow community members and could not stop sharing their praise about the turnout.

“To us, it’s a big deal,” Velasquez said. “The pride you see when you see all the people come out; when they all come out to support and not all of them are Marines, but they want to give back and say ‘Thank you’. That’s the big part, when the community gets involved and tells you, ‘We’re proud too.’”