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Liversedge Hall hosted Marines across the 2nd Marine Division and
retired veterans for a 76th birthday battle colors rededication
ceremony at Camp Lejeune, N.C., Feb. 10, 2017. During the ceremony
veterans from all walks of life and different eras of American
conflict awarded the division with ribbons for its individual units’
actions while deployed, helping with humanitarian relief and
maintaining combat readiness.
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February 10, 2017 - Marine veterans listen to Maj. Gen. John K.
Love’s speech during a battle colors rededication ceremony for 2nd
Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, NC. The veterans were the guests of
honor and bestowed streamers upon the 2nd MarDiv’s colors. The event
coincides with the 76th birthday of the division. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Juan A. Soto-Delgado)
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“The reason we exist, the purpose of this division is to
fight and win the nation’s battles. That’s exactly what [2nd
MarDiv] has done for the last 76 years,” said Maj. Gen. John
K. Love. “[During the ceremony] a veteran is going to carry
a streamer and will pass the streamer off to an active duty
Marine as a symbol of passing down the legacy and traditions
of the respective units within 2nd MarDiv.”
Love said
that the importance of the history within 2nd Marine
Division wouldn’t have been possible without the Marines
that dedicated their lives and time to the unit. He also
directed words to the current active duty Marines to
continue the proud legacy and traditions of 2nd Marine
Division and to always remember the meaning of Semper
Fidelis.
Among the veterans that
served, Jim Mahoney served in the Marine Corps from 1955
through 1959 with 2nd Tank Battalion and had the honor to
bestow the Presidential Unit Citation Streamer on 2nd
MarDiv’s Marine Corps flag.
“My Marine Corps
experience has been very rewarding physically, mentally and
spiritually,” said Mahoney. “It made me accept
responsibility at a young age and it gave me maturity. The
experience of meeting men and women in uniform, sharing the
same goals and being back to back, was meaningful.”
Mahoney retired in 1959 as a corporal serving with 2nd Tank
Battalion. He was stationed in Camp Lejeune serving his
four-year contract as a tank crewman.
“We’ve come a
long way since my time because we are educating [new
generations] more today. We thought we had it all at the
time, but progress moves on, and these Marines today seem to
have a good head on their shoulders,” Said Mahoney. “I’m
very excited for [the new generation].They have goals to
attain and they stand fast on what they want to do. We have
a new generation today who are up more on the world than we
were at my time, and I wish them all luck.”
The
ceremony concluded with a quote from Owen Eastwood, which
Love read to the audience from the book “Legacy” written by
James Kerr...
“Each of us [are] a link in an unbreakable
chain of people, arm in arm, going back to where the tribe began -
our first ancestor - through to the end of time. The sun slowly
moves down this chain of people - signifying life ... What is
important is that when the sun is on us we inherit our tribe’s
values, stories, mythology and standards - live to that standard -
and then pass it on to the next person in the chain.”
By U.S. Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Juan A. Soto-Delgado
Provided
through DVIDS
Copyright 2017
The U.S. Marines
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