Marines

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Col. David W. Maxwell, commander, Marine Corps Base Quantico, and Sgt. Maj. Mark A. Byrd Sr., base sergeant major, stand at attention after placing a wreath at the grave site of President James Madison during Monday’s ceremony at Montpelier to commemorate the 264th birthday of the nation’s fourth president.

Photo by John Hollis

Quantico Marines honor nations fourth president

20 Mar 2015 | John Hollis Marine Corps Base Quantico

The issues confronting President James Madison roughly 200 years ago are hauntingly similar to some of the same very challenges America faces today, said Col. David W. Maxwell, commander, Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Speaking at Monday’s wreath-laying ceremony at Madison’s Montpelier home in honor of the 264th anniversary of Madison’s birth, Maxwell lauded the nation’s fourth president for his wisdom in successfully managing the dire needs of the country at a time of war with the need to always protect civil liberties.

Maxwell’s comments to the audience came as the U.S. nears its 14th consecutive year at war and the possibility of renewed fighting in the Middle East.

“It has been said that conflict brings us together,” said Maxwell, before helping to place a wreath at Madison’s gravesite, “but Madison also recognized the cost of such a fight. He was quoted saying, ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’

“Today, our nation faces similar challenges to those we saw in the early years of America,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell, the designated representative of President Barack Obama, was among the two speakers on the sun-drenched afternoon, joining noted University of Virginia historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alan Taylor.

The Quantico Marine Corps Band provided music, while the base Honor Guard and Color Guard added to the program’s pageantry.

Madison is hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” because of his role in creating the  document that has guided America as the supreme law of the land since 1789, as well as his drafting of the Constitution’s essential first 10 amendments, which are known as “The Bill of Rights.”

He served as president from 1809-1817, presiding over the nation during the War of 1812 that saw British troops occupy and burn Washington, D.C. Throughout his presidency, Madison maintained that his first priority was to resist the calls for greater executive action in a young country that still recalled fighting the British for their freedom a generation earlier.

Madison emerged from the war with more popular support than he enjoyed at the start of his presidency.

Today’s Marines are also patriots whose deep love of country prompted them to volunteer their service to what Maxwell called “the best-trained and most experienced fighting force the world has ever seen.”

And like Madison and the nation’s other Founding Fathers they, too, will be ready to answer all challenges ahead, Maxwell said.

“Semper Fidelis and thank you, President Madison,” he added in closing.

— Writer: jhollis@quanticosentryonline.com
















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