Two Hundred and Fifty
By Michael J. Haas
Two centuries and five decades have passed,
Since men lined up for enlistment.
Tun Tavern was abuzz as sunlight cast,
What appeared is a force beyond description.

Where fourteen-hundred were needed,
A force of three-hundred was raised.
We became the smallest force fielded,
Setting the stage for a future yet blazed.

Tenacity and ferocity built the image,
While order and discipline guided the spirit.
Building character through early assemblage,
Then training and doctrine without limit.

Marines were issued leather gorgets,
It was meant to keep our heads erect.
Leatherneck became a name hard to forget,
We then engaged Barbary Pirates with no regret.

Defending Washington DC in Eighteen Twelve,
We displayed our marksmanship in battle for New Orleans.
Storming Chapultepec Castle earned our blood stripe honoring the felled,
Ceremoniously celebrated in our Hymn with esteem.

Battles were fought with grit and honor,
Oorah! was adopted as our battle cry.
Semper Fidelis became our lifelong motto,
Decried as “Tuefel Hunden” as we charged the German fray.

On Peleliu, Guadalcanal and Iwo Jima,
Japan felt the Marine Corps fury.
The raising of Old Glory on Mount Suribachi,
Drove a stake into Japan's seigneury.

On the Korean Peninsula we rubbed their nose in,
Having six divisions and five air wings in store.
Both Inchon and the frozen Chosin,
Witnessed the ingenuity and resolve of the Corps.

Viet Nam posed a different viewpoint,
With Da Nang, Hue, and Khe Sanh under fire.
The Marine Corps pressed our own counterpoint,
With fury and decisiveness at the point of our spire.

Then came Beirut in Nineteen Eighty Three,
Two Hundred Forty One dead from a cowardly act.
A suicide bomber to our sovereign U. S. Embassy,
Reducing it to ashes in an unresolved slap.

In liberating Kuwait on February Twenty Eight,
Significant contributions of the Marines were felt.
“Six Days in Fallujah” highlights that checkmate,
The fortress of Operation Phantom Fury was dealt.

We were deployed after 911,
For humanitarian needs at the pile.
Traveled to Afghanistan and Iraq to quell aggression,
As a global terror network continued to revile.

Even today we’re deployed to our borders,
Engineers, Expeditionary and Ground force along the side of Border Patrol.
Protecting our way of life and liberty through Executive orders
We are here today doing our duty and giving the world our soul