Marines celebrate 251st birthday at future site of 'The Tun' in Philadelphia

We apologize to nobody about being Marines. Semper Fi! Hurrah! November 10th, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution to form two battalions of Marines. The number one recruiting place that they started was, if you want to find Marines, was a bar. And they went to the Tun. The Tun is a place that every Marine at boot camp or Officer Candidate School learns is their birthplace and their birthright, but it hasn't stood since 1781, and we're going to rebuild it right here in Old City, Philadelphia, so that Marines past and present have a place to come back to. The Tun Legacy Foundation is a 501c nonprofit, and today's kind of our celebration. This is our third year that we do a block party here in Philadelphia, and a big thank you to all the supporters that have donated as we move forward towards groundbreaking. Good morning, Sergeant Major. Can I have the honor of a picture? No, man. It's my honor. This is the motherland for Marines. You must set foot in this place. This is where we were born. Here you go. Hi, my name is Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlos Ruiz. Out of 251 years, I've been running around for 33 years of it. They're everywhere. Everywhere. On November 10th, these streets are filled with Marines. It tells you that the tribe is alive and well and that we are who we say we are. I don't know where we are. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON! Happy Birthday! Thank you! If we say that we're a family and we will be forever connected to the Marine Corps, it's true. You see it here. It is customary at Marine Corps birthday celebrations worldwide for Marines to cut a traditional cake in celebration of the birth of our illustrious Corps. We see each other down here every year, but we haven't seen Dave in like 30 years. So a little reunion here. Oh, it's cool because we're just reminiscing, of course. And we're still probably the same knuckleheads we were back then, 30 years ago. If anyone would like to learn more about what we're doing here at the Ton, ideally, we start breaking ground this time next year. And it takes about 18 months to build. We'll have a soft opening in the summer of 2029. Please visit our website at theton.org. What's the Marine? I love you. Hoorah. Happy birthday.