US Marines Celebrate with Sar-El
By CWO-5 Melvin A. “Ash” Myers
USMCR/0210 (Ret)
Welcome to Israel. More specifically to an Israeli Defense Force (IDF) base in central Israel where former SSgt Fred E. Muller, USMC now living in Oregon, and I, now living in Florida, found ourselves on November 10th, 2010.
We were working as members of a program known as Volunteers For Israel assigned to the central medical supply section where we, along with several other non-military volunteers from Australia, Canada, Hungary, Italy, Russia and all over the United States recycled and repackaged medical supplies for pre-positioning. Our “tour of duty” was from October 23rd through November 11th and, true to the tradition, we celebrated the 235th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps (with hand-made USMC emblem, store bought cake and other sundry snack items procured by whatever means necessary) on the evening of November 10,2010.
SSgt Muller told the other volunteers about the founding of the Marine Corps and the significance of the birthday celebration. I read the Almars Commandant’s Message from my BlackBerry device. As I concluded my presentation, giving thanks to those in attendance and explaining about the birthday cake, one of the volunteers spontaneously began singing the Marine Corps Hymn. Everyone joined in and then we all moved to another area for the cake cutting ceremony.
The first piece of
cake was given to the oldest volunteer present, 87 year-old Jacob “Jack” Amir
from New Jersey who fought as a conscript with the British military during WWII
and later with the Israelis during their War of Independence.
The
second piece was given to one of the madrichot (translated into English meaning
guide and sounds like “mad ri kot with the o like in cove), 18 year-old Galit
Lukin. Madricha is female, madrich is a male, and madrichot is plural. They are
soldiers in the IDF who have chosen to serve as liaisons between civilian
volunteers and the IDF command structure. Two madrichot were assigned to this
group of volunteers. Both were born in Argentina and immigrated to Israel with
their families when they were younger.
They met everyone upon arrival and took care of all logistical needs for the three weeks, including issuance of old Israeli fatigue uniforms for work clothes, housing, chow, work details, and evening educational activities. During the second week they hosted a one-half day “tacky tourist” trip up the coast to the ruins of Caesarea, the ancient port city built by Herod when he was King of Judea, and another full day trip during the third week to Jerusalem where the volunteers toured the Menachem Begin Heritage Center. Time was allotted for some lunch and sightseeing in the new city of Jerusalem, including a stop outside of the Knesset, the Israeli equivalent to the U. S. Congress, before returning to base.
Everyone enjoyed the evening festivities and SSgt Muller and I were thanked by all for including them in the celebration. I also called GySgt Terry (Josef) Jesmore, USMC/0211 (Ret), who now lives in southern Israel, and wished him a “Happy Birthday, Marine” before the festivities ended. Even without the formal meal, guest speaker and ballroom dancing, a good time was had by all.