Today is Veterans Day, and yesterday the United State Marine Corps celebrated its 242nd birthday. That makes this weekend the perfect time to learn something we didn't already know about the Marines. For example, if you are old enough to have attended an American elementary school back when they had regular music class, you know the lyrics to the Marines' Hymn -at least the first verse. But what do they mean?
2. THE MARINES'S HYMN REFERS TO THE BATTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC.
The Marines’ Hymn famously begins, “From the Halls of Montezuma...” This refers to the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847, in which U.S. Marines conquered Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City and subsequently occupied the city as part of the Mexican-American War. The battle is also famous (according to Marine tradition) for the establishment of the “blood stripe,” a red stripe sewn into the trousers of the uniform commemorating the Marines killed at Chapultepec.
3. "THE SHORES OF TRIPOLI" IS A REFERENCE TO THE FIRST OVERSEAS LAND BATTLE FOUGHT BY THE UNITED STATES MILITARY.
In 1801, the United States decided to do something about piracy in the Mediterranean so President Jefferson sent in the Navy. In 1805, the Marines finished the job. The Battle of Derne, on the shores of Tripoli during the First Barbary War, was the decisive action of the war, and the first overseas land battle fought by the United States military.
Find out nine other things about the Marine Corps at Mental Floss.