Marines past and present were in the spotlight June 6 as the Norfolk Tides, a local minor league baseball team and farm team for the Baltimore Orioles, honored the Marine Corps with the Tides’ annual Marine Night.
The festivities began on the field at Harbor Park here with the 2nd Marine Air Wing Band from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, N.C., performing a medley of jazzy tunes and patriotic standards, culminating with a rendition of the Marine Corps Hymn that had audience members clamoring for more.
Marines from the 3rd Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) Company, based at Naval Station Norfolk, Va., and Marine Air Control Squadron 24, based in Virginia Beach, Va., provided static displays of Marine Corps vehicles outside the stadium. Inside, FAST Company Marines wowed park-goers with an array of Marine Corps infantry weapons that visitors could inspect and handle under the guidance of their Marine hosts. Recruiters attached to Recruiting Station Richmond units serving the Hampton Roads area also interacted with visitors to the park, as bagpipers and drummers with the Tidewater Pipes and Drums provided ancient Celtic rhythms along the Harbor Park Terrace.
Col. Chris McCarthy, head of Marine Corps Forces Command (MARFORCOM) Plans, Policies and Operations Department, was honored as the senior Marine officer present, with McCarthy and Tides Manager Gary Allenson exchanging Marine Corps and Norfolk Tides ball caps. Sgt. Christopher House, MARFORCOM Marine of the Quarter, threw the ceremonial first pitch of the game.
Elsewhere on the field, the Headquarters Service Battalion Color Guard from MARFORCOM and the Staff Sgt. Jason D. Whitehouse Unit of Young Marines, from Virginia Beach, Va., provided spectators in the over 12,000-seat capacity Harbor Park stadium an exhibition of marching skills.
Prior to the Tides and Toledo Mud Hens facing off in the first of a four-game series (won by the Mud Hens 1-0), the 2nd Marine Air Wing Band brought the crowd to their feet with a stirring orchestral rendition of the National Anthem.
All in all, it was an impressive night of tribute, not only for Marines past and present, active, reserve, and retired who were in attendance, but for all who were present for the ninth annual Marine Night at Harbor Park with the Norfolk Tides.