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Immediately’s Marine Corps has come a good distance from its humble origins in a Philadelphia tavern in 1775. First established as a touchdown power for the Navy, Marines fought to safe the independence of our nation within the Revolutionary Warfare. The Marine Corps has gone on to safeguard our freedom in each clime and place and in each warfare our nation has fought since then. Many have heard of battles in locations like Belleau Wooden, Iwo Jima, Chosin, Khe Sanh, Fallujah and Marjah.
Since these early days, Marine Corps capabilities have developed in methods our founders may have by no means imagined, and our Marine Corps at this time is an built-in air-ground group, able to quickly deploying to any battle or disaster on this planet. Nonetheless, one factor has remained fixed: the women and men of the Marine Corps. At all times devoted, they’ve been our nation’s most interesting examples of honor, braveness and dedication for practically 250 years.
Proper now, Congress has the chance to assist People honor the Marine Corps legacy of bravery and selfless service on a nationwide scale, in a approach that will not price taxpayers a single cent. A bipartisan group of Marine veterans serving in Congress — Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, and Reps. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., and Jack Bergman, R-Mich. — launched “The 250th Anniversary of the USA Marine Corps Commemorative Coin Act” to instruct the Treasury Division to subject multiple million cash in 2025.
Because the variety of veterans in our nation, and serving in our Congress, has shrunk over time, preservation of our Marine Corps story is extra vital than ever. The creation of this coin will help the understanding and appreciation of a really particular a part of our nation’s historical past.
We now have a world-class instance of how highly effective a commemorative coin may be for creating the sources wanted to inform America’s story by the eyes of Marines. A coin minted in 2005 for the 230th anniversary of the Marine Corps was one of the widespread in U.S. Mint historical past. The income that coin produced helped fund the development of the Nationwide Museum of the Marine Corps.
Since its opening, hundreds of thousands of Marines, Marine Corps households, grateful People and guests from all over the world have skilled the museum. They’ve stood mere inches from the enduring American flag raised over Iwo Jima, felt a jolting blast of chilly air as they walked by the immersive Chosin Reservoir exhibit, and smelled gunpowder within the air as they watched a reenactment of the Battle of Belleau Wooden.
These visits have conveyed the Corps’ wealthy historical past and created indelible reminiscences for the guests, partly made potential by the income of the commemorative coin. Nonetheless, till now, the museum expertise has largely been restricted to solely those that may go to the bodily constructing. In honor of the Marine Corps’ first 250 years of service, we need to increase past the museum partitions to succeed in members of the Marine Corps neighborhood and grateful residents throughout the nation. The Marine Corps Heritage Basis, which led the marketing campaign to construct the museum, is ready to provide touring reveals and digital programming that can make the museum expertise extra accessible to all.
The commemorative coin will give each American a chance to point out their help for the Marine Corps. All proceeds raised from the coin gross sales, after the preliminary price of designing and issuing the coin are paid for, might be used particularly to help the tutorial, historic and cultural applications of the Nationwide Museum of the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps Heritage Middle.
At present, the invoice resides in committee in each the Home and the Senate. At the least 67 Senate cosponsors and 290 Home cosponsors should be secured earlier than a flooring vote may be scheduled. Time is urgent. I strongly urge each member of Congress to contemplate taking motion in help of this cost-free laws to protect and share the Marine Corps’ legacy and honor each American who has earned the title “Marine.”
— James W. Lukeman is a retired Marine Corps main normal, and president and CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Basis.
