Mormon Battalion Historic Site Flag Day Celebration Salutes Marines

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site is hosting their 2^nd Annual Flag Day Celebration on Saturday, June 14, 2014. The Flag Day Celebration begins at 5:00 pm with the retiring of the Colors.  It will be a patriotic program with music and entertainment featuring the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Brass Band along with the singing group, Semi-Sweet. The event takes place on the grounds of the Mormon Battalion Historic Site in Old Town is open to the public at no cost.  Cake will be served and free tours will be given to all attendees and their families.

This year the Battalion has selected to honor the United States Marine Corps in celebration of the 100^th year anniversary of the Marines being based in San Diego.  A special presentation will be given to the men of the “Legacy of the Corps.”  They are a group of retired Marines who volunteer their time to teach the young recruits about the history of the Marine Corps.

Captain Robert Riding, DC, USN (retired), MCRD Graduate, Company Honor Man 1968, and First Counselor in the Presidency of the San Diego California Penasquitos Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be our keynote speaker. 

Captain Riding, as a young Marine 2^nd Lieutenant, saw combat action in Viet Nam as an infantry platoon commander, artillery forward observer, and battery executive officer.  After his release from active duty in 1971, he finished his undergraduate education and then attended dental school on a Navy scholarship, later to become active duty Navy in 1978.  He completed his residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at the Naval Hospital here in San Diego.  Serving as Department Head and Oral Surgeon onboard the US Constellation for two years, he was then assigned to Camp Pendleton and later to Naval Station San Diego as Dental Department Head and Command Consultant for Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.  He spent a total of 30 years serving in both the Marine Corps and the Navy.  To this day, Capt. Riding proudly wears the Marine Corps emblem on his dental coat.

The Mormon Battalion Historic Site is located at 2510 Juan Street in Old Town San Diego directly across the freeway from the Marine Corps Recruit Depot. The site honors the Mormon Battalion, U.S. Army of the West and their many and  far reaching accomplishments to San Diego and the United States during and after the Mexican War in spite of their not firing one shot in battle.  The Battalion arrived in San Diego in 1847 after the longest and one of the most difficult marches in United States history originating in Council Bluff, Iowa, then to Mexico, across Arizona and the Colorado River, and finally San Diego.  They were the first military unit garrisoned in San Diego and were charged with protecting the American Flag which the Marines had raised after an amphibious landing in 1846. The Battalion’s story is one of faith, sacrifice, and service which parallels the ideals the Marine Corps espouses of honor, courage, and commitment.