Oorah, Marines. [Marines respond "Oorah"] I didn't hear you. Oorah, Marines. [Marines respond "Oorah"] God bless you, Marines. God bless you, Camp Pendleton. It is so much fun and such an honor to be out here to celebrate 250 years of United States Marines. [Marines respond "Oorah"] Now, I got to say, first of all, thank you to so many of the fine people who are here today who made this incredible event happen, and who every day make our military the finest fighting force anywhere in the world.
First of all, our great Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, who gave a hell of a speech, if I might say so. Pete, where are you at? Now he is a soldier, but are we proud of our Secretary of War Marine Corps? [Marines respond "Oorah"] Now I will say, I was talking to Pete about this speech and thinking about what I said.
And I realized that over my four years in the United States Marine Corps, I probably learned about 100 jokes about United States Marines. And every single one of them, Marines, would mean the end of my political career if I told it up here today. I sent a few of them last night to my communication staff and I said, "Can I tell this one?" They said, "Please, no sir.
Please, please do not tell that one." We're also happy to be joined by our great Secretary of the Navy, John Phelan. John, thank you so much for your leadership and service. I got to give a shout-out to my beautiful wife, our great Second Lady, Usha Vance, with the Marine Corps hat. I've been asked many times, why did I want to run for and become Vice President of the United States?
And there's a lot of answers, of course, to that question. I wanted to serve our wonderful Commander-in-Chief, President Donald J. Trump, and I know we're proud of him. [Marines respond "Oorah"] And of course, I wanted to serve the American people and make their lives better. But really, deep down, I wanted the Commandant of the Marine Corps to have to salute a member of the E4 Mafia and now he has to. And Marines, we have a great Marine Corps command in General Eric Smith.
General, thank you so much for everything you do. We got General Daniel Taylor. Where is General Daniel Taylor? Apparently he was sick today. We have got Admiral Gavin Duff here. Admiral, thank you for your service, sir. We have got Colonel John Caldwell and General Michael Nakonieczny. Did I pronounce that right, General?
There we go. I did. Okay. I'm the vice president, so you can't tell me I'm wrong. Of course, Marines, I bring greetings today from our Commander-in-Chief, Donald J. Trump. And he wanted me to tell each and every single one of you that he's proud of you, that he loves you, and that despite the Schumer shutdown, he is going to do everything he can to make sure you get paid exactly as you deserve.
Now, I know we're here to talk about the Marine Corps, but I got to get just a little political because Congressional Democrats seem to want to keep the government shut down, even though it would mean that a lot of you would not get your paycheck. But as I told the president just a couple of days ago, I said, "Sir, we have got to figure out how to pay these Marines, both for their sake, but also of course, because if we don't pay our enlisted Marines, every bar in Southern California is going to go out of business and we don't want that." Now, I've also got to give a special shout out to the incredible display that we saw earlier today.
It made my heart sing as your vice president, and it was a testament to the Corps strength and unbeatable power. It reminded me why I'm so proud to have worn the uniform, to be one among your ranks and to be the very first vice president to have been a United States Marine. Now, for US East Coast Marines, Camp Pendleton has always had a special place in our imagination.
We heard the stories of the back-breaking hikes you all had to do, the West Coast Marines had to do in Camp Pendleton. You know it. Us East Coast Marines, we had the sand fleas and you all had the hills. I don't know which was worse. These guys behind me have opinions. So let's give some credit to the amazing Marine units who pulled this off.
First of all, to the incredible Marines of this base and the Marine Corps Forces West who put on this display. Let's give a round of applause to the incredible job they did. I want to talk about some of those units because you all made me so proud. I know we must have some Marines from the 1st Marine Division.
Where are you? You all did a hell of a job. How about the Marines from the 3rd Marine Air Wing? I know we have some Marines from the 1st Marine Logistics Group, the lifeblood of the fight. Where are you all at? We've also got Marines from the I MEF Information Group, the Brain of Fight. Where are you all at? We've also got, of course, men and women from Marine Corps Installations West, the folks who keep the home front.
Where are you? Marine Corps Installations West. There we go. Now, I know you all know we cannot leave out our brothers and sisters of the Sea. So we're proud to have all the sailors of the Navy's Third Fleet here to celebrate 250 years of Marines. Thank you. These sailors who go to war with us, they fight over the horizon.
They stand shoulder to shoulder with Marines, wherever the fight takes us. If any group shares in the glory of the Marines' 350th birthday, it is our beloved Navy Corpsmen. Let's give a shoutout to the Navy Corpsmen out there. We love them. I know every Marine has had the story of walking into a Corpsman's office, barely alive, suffering the most severe illness you've suffered in your entire life, and they'll say, "You just go home, hydrate, and take two Motrin, and it'll work out just fine." So thank you to the corpsmen for taking care of us, but also toughening us up. That's right, and a change of socks.
A bottle of water, a change of socks, and two Motrin, we'll fix any illness. So we are grateful Marines to be graced with the presence of some very special guests, people whose very lives contribute to the incredible Marine Corps legacy. Earlier, we all heard from Sergeant Dakota Meyer, who received the Medal of Honor in 2011 for extraordinary heroism in 2009. Are we proud of Sergeant Dakota Meyer?
Yes, we are. [Audience responds affirmatively] Despite the constant rain of enemy fire, then-Corporal Meyer made multiple runs across an ambush zone that day, saving the lives of 36 American and Afghan troops. Dakota Meyer, we love you. We're proud of you. You're the very best of the Marine Corps and the very best of this country.
We are also honored to be joined by American hero, Charles Cram, who was a navy corpsman attached to the 5th Marine Division when it landed at Iwo Jima. Now, as part of that force, this American hero watch the stars and stripes raised over Mount Suribachi before being wounded on the seventh day of battle while tending to a Marine.
For his valor, he was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart. Sir, we love you. Thank you for your service. The Marines love their corpsmen, and that's one of the very best. Another living legend we have with us today is Elmer Royce Williams, a naval aviator, who while on combat patrol in the Korean War, suddenly found himself up against seven Soviet MiGs.
Sir, thank you so much. God bless you and thank you. Now, we're going to let the brave Lieutenant take a seat, but I got to talk a little bit about him. I got to brag on him, because despite the odds, Lieutenant Williams took down four of them in a single 35-minute dogfight, the longest dogfight in naval history, a record I believe that still stands to this day, oorah. [Marines respond "Oorah"] Now, not only did he take four MiGs down, he demolished the MiG's reputation as an unbeatable aircraft and secured his place among the legends of American military aviation.
If you notice, we just talked about a great Marine and ground combat, a great Marine and aviation combat, and a great Marine, or I should say a great Navy corpsman who helps out our Marines. In other words, Marines can kick ass in every theater of combat. And we do it every single day.
And I finally got to give a shout-out to my dear friend, recently retired Master Sergeant Charles McKelvey. Chase, where are you at, man?
Love you. Oh, he's got a beard already. Look at that. He's been out of the Marine Corps for three months. He's already got a beard longer than what I got. Now Master Sergeant McKelvey and I served together at Cherry Point when we were both very young Marines and we've been good friends ever since. I call him Chase.
Other Marines will tell you, Chase is an extraordinary person. The smartest, kindest Marine you'll ever meet. And those are descriptions I can personally attest to. Now, he was supposed to join me at my inauguration to become the vice president last January, but tragically he lost his wonderful, devoted wife, Jillian, to a terrible illness just days before.
So I want to tell you, Chase, in front of all these Marines, we're proud of you. We're thankful for you. I'm sorry I couldn't see in January, but I'm glad to see you today, my friend. I love you. Semper Fi. And finally, we are grateful to have all of you, whatever your rank, whatever your station in the Marine Corps here at Camp Pendleton, to commemorate this incredible 250th anniversary of our beloved Marine Corps.
From these mountains and this water, Marines have deployed to every major fight of the last century, from island hopping across the Pacific to Vietnam's Hue city, to Kuwait, to Helmand, and beyond. And standing here, you can feel the weight of that history, the generations upon generations of Americans who cut their teeth at this base before boarding ships and carrying the American flag into battle.
But that's exactly what Marines do. For two and a half centuries now, this beloved Corps has served as our nation's sharp edge, always forward deployed, always ready, and always faithful. My service in the Marine Corps was a huge part of my life. I would not be here today. I would not be the Vice President of the United States.
I would not be the man I am today, were it not for those four years that I served in the Marine Corps. Now, before I was enlisted, I was pretty terrified about the prospect of becoming a Marine. I'm sure that a lot of you can share that. I remember I had nightmares before I went to boot camp of drill instructors yelling at me, of being away from my family, of being constantly stretched well beyond my own physical limits.
It's daunting stuff, as all of you know, and as anyone who survived boot camp can tell you, it's all real. But my cousin, Rachel, in particular, one last shout out to a former Marine. In particular, she pushed me to do it. A veteran of the Corps herself, she got it. She understood what joining does for a young man or a young woman.
So she pushed me to go and talk to a recruiter, which I did, and I will never forget that conversation. Because at no point did he try to sell me on the United States Marine Corps. He warned me. He said, "You don't enlist in the Marine Corps to make money." And you all know that's exactly right. He said, "You might even go to war." This was back in 2003 right after we invaded Iraq.
But what he did tell me is that enlisting in the Marines would teach me many things, including discipline and the virtue of leadership. And that was appealing to me. And I know it's appealing to Marines today, and for every year of our 250-year history. Hurrah. But over the days that followed, what further dawned on me was that I needed to do this not just for me, but for the nation.
My country needed me just as sure as the country needs each and every one of you today. The September 11th attacks had occurred barely a year earlier. And as I weighed what enlisting would mean, the crisis in Iraq was becoming a full out war. So I made the call. As an 18-year-old senior in the state of Ohio, it was one of the first times in my life that I recall feeling like the country actually needed me. And when I realized I had a responsibility to something so much greater than myself, or even my family, and I had an obligation to act on that feeling of duty.
And I know that's something that animates every single one of you. Whether you're a private or a general, that spirit of service has been the spirit of the Marine Corps for two and a half centuries. So I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart, from one Marine to another, from the vice-president of the United States to the whole Marine Corps, thank you for your service.
We are proud of you, and proud of your service. And I'm here today because I want to talk a little bit about the Great Marine Corps tradition, 250 years of it. I want to talk about the tradition that all of us standing under this bright California sun. And man, it is bright. We all chose, however many years ago, to adopt that Marine Corps tradition as our own.
A tradition in that just three short weeks we'll reach its 250th year. Now, as many of you in this audience know, the Corps found its origins in the autumn of 1775. And if any of you may be familiar to you, a bar in Philadelphia, called Tun Tavern. The very first bar in the United States of America that would come to regret serving United States Marines.
So here we are in Tun Tavern, almost 250 years ago. And what we did in that moment was we answered the call of service. Because even before we had a Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress organized an army and a navy to fight the British, but they recognized they needed something a little bit extra.
They needed a force that could fight just as comfortably on land as it could on sea. That was able to move fast, strike hard, and hold its ground. So on November 10th, 1775, Congress resolved to raise two battalions of Continental Marines. The captain, Samuel Nicholas, established that first recruitment drive at Tun Tavern in Philadelphia in search of a few good men.
He was seeking young, able-bodied citizens. Men who relished the opportunity to fight tyrants, yes, but more importantly, who were eager to answer that first call of duty of a young nation. Just a few months later, Captain Nicholas was personally leading those Marines in a daring raid on New Providence, sieving British forts and supplies in The Bahamas.
And two short years later, the Marines joined forces with the legendary John Paul Jones, the Father of the American Navy, beginning a great tradition that has survived the entire term of our Marine Corps. That when the Marines and the Navy go to war together, they always fight well and they always win. The War of Independence set a blueprint that Marines follow to this day.
Boldness in action, unity and purpose, and a lightning readiness to go wherever the nation required. And battle after battle, the United States Marine Corps has broken the backs of empires. You've toppled tyrants, you've hanged pirates, and hunted down America's foes across the seven seas. And Pete, it turns out we're hunting some pirates today, aren't we? From Tripoli to the Halls of Montezuma, from Belleau Wood to Iwo Jima, and from Chosin Reservoir to Quezon, we Marines have repeatedly earned our reputation as the first to fight and the last to leave.
And as all of you know, that legacy only grew stronger after 9/11. Within weeks after the attack, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the 15th MEU, already forward deployed on September the 11th, helped launch the most ambitious amphibious assault in the history of the United States of America. And that's just how Marines are wired.
Because while the world keeps changing, new weapons, new threats, and new ways in which we wage war, the nation will forever need the United States Marine Corps. And in the Trump administration, we know that the work you do protecting our country, putting your lives on the line to defend our way of life, is at the heart of Marine Corps service.
Now, when officials try to shift focus to mandating diversity quotas or they try to inject partisan politics into the American Armed Forces, they impede the Marine Corps ability to do its best work. And that's why the Secretary of War and the President of the United States have stood so firmly against that crap.
Because when you can't operate at your best on the battlefield, it puts everybody's lives at risk. And it's why we're re-centering the focus of all of our military, including the Marine Corps, on those timeless values of discipline, readiness, and faith in one another. Now, I remember when I was a young recruit in boot camp talking about how politically correct things got maybe over the last few years, and I compare it to my time in the Marine Corps, I remember I was lining up as a young recruit to go to church one Sunday morning.
And back then there were two lines, there was the Catholic line and there was the Protestant line. And I remember we all get into our lines and there's one recruit who's just standing there by himself. And the folks watching on TV may not realize that Marines refer to themselves in the third person when they're in recruit training because you haven't earned the title of United States Marine and so you have to say "this recruit" instead of I.
And so you've got this one recruit standing out there by himself, and the drill instructor says, "Hey, what the hell are you doing?" And the recruit says, "This recruit is an atheist." And the drill instructor says, "Bullshit. Get in the Catholic line." That didn't work in the Biden administration, Pete. That didn't work in the Biden administration.
But now we recognize that it is not our diversity that makes us stronger. It is our common purpose, it is our common mission, and it is the fact that every single person here bleeds Marine Corps green.
And I think that all of you should realize that from the President of the United States on down, this government is proud of you, it's proud of the tradition of the Marine Corps, and it's proud of the fact that that great tradition has custodians in each and every single person here, each and every single Marine who is serving today.
And I hope that the proud Marine Corps tradition, you heard Pete talk about this, Chesty Puller, Dan Daly, John Basilone, all of these great Marine Corps heroes, they should inspire you through their action to be the very best Marine in the future that you can be. Now, I remember so many people who made my Marine Corps journey and made the country better in the process.
I remember a gunnery sergeant who saved me from financial ruin. I was a young lance corporal and I was going to go to an off-base car dealership and buy a used car with a low-load dealer provided interest rate of 22%. These Marines behind me, you aren't supposed to nod your head at that part, guys. No, 22% interest rate.
So I had a gunny who was like, "Look, stop being a dip-shit and go to Navy Federal Credit Union, get a better interest rate, and then go and buy a car." And that's exactly what I did. I remember that gunny, and I remember a young Marine who was younger than I was. Chase knows who I'm talking about. A Puerto Rican Marine who grew up in New York City. [Audience member calls out, inaudibly] You too, huh?
A man I thought I had nothing in common with, but who I learned bled Marine Corps green just like I did and who came to my inauguration as vice president of the United States. I remember a Marine I served with, a guy whose political beliefs you might call far left, but despite the craziness of our politics today remains one of my best friends and is a man I would trust with my life.
I remember the Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima etching in American memory the importance of respecting and honoring our beautiful national symbol. I remember all my friends from the Marines, men and women, some of whom retired and some of whom made the Marine Corps proud in the civilian world. I remember General Chuck Krulak, who I met at my cousin's boot camp graduation.
He was the 31st commandant of the Marine Corps, and I was probably 14 years old and I was taller than he was, but he was tough as nails. I met him as vice president, by the way, just a few months ago. He's still very short and he's still tough as nails and he still loves the Marine Corps as much as he did on his first day of service.
Now he had a phrase, I'm sure you guys have heard it. He said that the most important thing the Marine Corps does for this nation is to win battles and to make United States Marines. Today we remember a fallen Marine from the 3rd Marine Air Wing who died not far from here on a training mission. He died so recently as a matter of fact, I can't even say his name publicly, but I want all of us to know and send a message to his family that we remember them and we know that his Marine Corps service was not in vain.
Let's give an ooh-rah for that fallen Marine. [Marines respond "Oorah"] I know that all of us remember the friends who went off to war, and we particularly remember the ones who were mangled in combat or who never came home at all. Every single one of you has memories like this. Every single one of you is lucky enough to have friends like mine.
Within each of you is your own Marine Corps legacy burning every single day. And because of that, every one of our fellow Marines lives on as Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in full metal jacket. We like Full Metal Jacket, Marines? [Marines respond "Oorah"] He said, "But the Marine Corps lives on forever, and that means you live forever." Our motto Marines is semper fidelis, which means in Latin, always faithful.
Though the shape of the battlefield will change, our nation will be just fine, so long as fellow Marines, just like you remain faithful to that great Marine Corps legacy. My fellow Marines, you have the watch now. You honor that legacy by how you carry yourself in public. You honor it by how you treat your friends and family.
You honor it by how you contribute to your communities, and most importantly, you honor it in how you fight and win the nation's battles. So, from one vice president to an incredible United States Marine Corps, keep kicking ass. Keep taking names. Semper Fidelis, Marines. Happy 250th birthday. God bless you.