Thursday was Family Day for the graduating Marine recruits. There are activities planned for the families that come for the graduation. One of them was a buffet in the Lyceum. Now when I was a recruit here in ‘61, the Lyceum was where we learned jujitsu and pugil stick hand to hand combat skills. It was a very industrial warehouse like building with a large open wooden floor. Now it is a modern looking banquet hall with large chandeliers, a recreation of Tun Tavern and looks like a great place for a Marine Corps Ball or There were tables for several hundred and only a couple dozen were there.
We were on our bikes for this day of base sightseeing and found it very easy to bike here. There are wide areas for joggers along most of the roads on base. And there were always Marines using them. Fitness is a major goal of Marine life. We biked by my old unit, Headquarters Co, H&S Bn, where I was stationed with the Parris Island Drum and Bugle Corps after finishing Field Music School. The school is no longer at PI. They train musicians at Yorktown, VA now. The Drum Corps is gone, too. They have a good band and we heard them Friday morning. Also missing is the club where I hoisted a few with my drum corps buddies. The club now is in the old brig and is named the Brig and Brew. It has an austere look like it was just used as a brig recently. There’s even a barbed wire lookout tower against one wall. Met some nice senior NCO’s there later when we went back in for dinner, drink and computer time and karaoke.
Stopped at the chapel right across from the Parade Field near 1st Recruit Bn. It was built in the mid-80’s. I asked about the chapel I would have attended when I was there but no one seemed to know anything about it. It was about a block away and named Depot Chapel and is still there and has a big sign in front…. Anyway, the stained glass windows were donated by various Marine organizations and were good at showing Marine historical events and biblical depictions. We missed a 2PM talk by the chaplain discussing them.
Just a couple blocks away is the Marine Corps Museum and it was chock full of Marine Corps and Parris Island history. There had been a Marine Corps presence at PI since the Civil War. And it has been training Marines since before WW1. It was interesting to look at the timelines of when the corps started taking women (WW1) and when it integrated (late 40’s) and other milestones. I was particularly interested in the Field Music School pictures. They took 16 year olds in a Field Musics; regular recruits had to be 18.
It was good to return and see that the Marines are still GungHo and keeping up traditions. They still have a bulldog mascot and have ceremonial Colors and parades and teach the Marine Corps Hymn and drill and fitness. They have added the Crucible, which is a field training exercise that uses the classroom training and incorporates team building scenarios. And there are still honor graduates that get a stripe and a set of dress blues upon graduation. And the haircuts are still high and tight!
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