Nov 7, 2014

The first leader of Marines, Maj. Samuel Nicholas would die in Philadelphia August 27th, 1790 – at approximately 54 years of age – in a yellow fever epidemic. He was buried in a friend’s unmarked graveyard according to the Quaker tradition of the time. After years of negotiation with the Quaker proprietors of the site, the Chester County Marine Corps League detachment secured permission to put in a simple colonial-style gravestone with Major Nicholas’ name and the dates of his birth and death. Each year on the anniversary of his death, the local Marine Reserve Officer Training Corps returns to the gravesite at sunrise for a ceremony that includes a historical reading and the laying of a wreath. (Photo taken and provided courtesy of Patrick Hughes)

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I Marine Expeditionary Force