Last night we had the pleasure of celebrating the 237th Birthday of the Marine Corps with 12th Marine Regiment (husbands regiment of course) at The Palms in Camp Hansen, Okinawa.
The Marine Corps was formed during the American Revolutionary War on November 10th, 1775 and every year since 1925 they have a Birthday Ball. It all starts with a traditional ceremony, where a prayer is said, the flags are brought, the national anthem is played, a Senior Member and the Guest of Honor make speeches, Birthday Messages by the 13th Commandant and the current Commandant of the Marine Corps are read (or in this case played, they showed us a video) and then they cut the cake! During the cake-cutting ceremony they give a slice to the oldest Marine Present (who was actually born in 1964, which means he’s 48, which really isn’t that old) and the youngest marine present (always an 18 year old Private or Private First Class). I was personally impressed with the Guest of Honor’s speech, he is a Sergeant Major and a Veteran of the Vietnam War, in his speech he told us a story that almost made me burst into tears, it was that moving! After the ceremony, which we couldn’t even see… because our table was in the back and a wall was blocking our view, dinner was served and then the party began.
The pictures i always take at the ball end up looking all dark and ugly. But this year they had a photographer who was going to post all of his pictures on Facebook, which i think is the best idea ever invented! Here are some pictures taken by the photographer and one or two taken by me.
They had an actual Marine Corps band which was pretty awesome.
There was a girl dressed in a traditional Japanese Kimono and i got so excited when i spotted her!!! 😉
and of course Gangnam Style got the party started!! (You can play, Where is Gustavo? in this picture)
I’ll be honest and say that it wasn’t as awesome as last years Ball, but then again, we just got here two months ago (YES, it’s been almost two months now, can you believe it?) and we haven’t made as good friends as the ones we had back in North Carolina. But all in all it was fun.
I was so happy when i saw how pretty these pictures turned out! 😀
(ignore the demon eyes… stupid iphone flash)
the boys decided to carry Gustavo, and this was the result! Best picture of the night in my eyes.
Here we are dancing to Elvis Crespo’s – Suavemente!!! This is our second Ball and in both of them they have played this song. Husband says its the only Merengue/Salsa song Americans know… but its always fun to show off our latin dance moves.
xoxo
ps. my dress is a “convertible dress” in black ordered on henkaa.com, it comes in lots of colors and lengths. If you’re interested in a versatile dress for future formal occasions, this dress is one you should check out because you can make it into a different one every time you wear it! Also if you’re wondering… my necklace is from Forever 21 and i was so excited to finally wear it.
photo source: here