Alpharetta resident Egil (Gil) Leines accepted the invitation to try out for the U.S. Marine Ceremonial Guard Company s elite Silent Drill Platoon in 1958.
The Independence Day celebration on the National Mall is always a big, crowded event with music, celebrities, and fireworks and artillery being fired off along the Potomac River at the end of the evening. But this year, my wife and I, along with one of our daughters, got a wonderful and more intimate preview of the spirit of July Fourth when we attended the “Evening Parade” at the U.S. Marine Corps Barracks in the District of Columbia on the Friday before our country’s grand birthday celebration.