Last Saturday, immediately upon my return from Antarctica, I had the great pleasure of attending this year’s Marine Corps Ball in Wellington. Each year our Marines worldwide celebrate the birth of the Corps on or about November 10th. Our celebration this year in New Zealand was pushed back a month due to Secretary Clinton’s visit in early November.

At the Ball, with our Marines.

Our annual Ball here in Wellington is particularly meaningful because of the Marine Corps’ special relationship with New Zealand. During World War II, tens of thousands of U.S. Marines were sent to New Zealand by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Winston Churchill’s request to assist in the defense of the Aotearoa homeland because British forces were occupied elsewhere. Within days of Churchill’s request, Roosevelt cabled that “we are straining every effort” to send defense forces as soon as possible. The first American troops – five transport ships filled with Army doughboys – landed in Auckland on June 12, 1942, only six months after the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor. Two days later the Marine leathernecks sailed into Wellington harbor on the battle-scarred USS Wakefield.

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