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Health & Fitness

Cheer Our 700 'Adopted' Marines at Thursday Parade

Help welcome home 700 Marines From Our Adopted 2/4 Marine Unit as they March Down our San Clemente's main street.

Imagine 700 Marines marching down San Clemente’s main street, Del Mar Ave.
Well, it is happening on Flag Day-- 10 a.m. Thursday, June 14.

For the first time in 20 years, San Clemente is holding a large patriotic military parade.

Everyone is welcome to both the parade and the post-parade ceremony, 11am, at Park Semper Fi as we welcome home the 2nd Batallion, 4th Marines from Afghanistan.

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The 2/4 is our very “own” Marine unit which San Clemente adopted in 1996. We were one of the very first cities in the country to adopt a Marine unit. They deserve our welcome home. It was a rough tour where they lost five Marines.

The parade starts at the corner of Avenida Del Mar and El Camino Real and proceeds down our main street to Park Semper Fi (www.MarineMonument.com) by the beach where there will be an honor/memorial ceremony at 11 a.m.

Find out what's happening in San Clementewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The parade is being led by city councilmembers carrying a welcoming banner followed by a flotilla of classic cars, many of them woodies, carrying 2/4 Association members and San Clemente veterans.

Next is the 1st Marine Division Band preceding the 700 2/4 Marines on their march to Park Semper Fi. Wal-Mart will be handing out small American flags along the parade route, so be sure to pick one up and wave it proudly as the Marines march by.

The First Marine Division Band will also perform patriotic music at Park Semper Fi for the awards/memorial service. We will have enough chairs for all who wish to attend, so please plan on showing our small town community spirit.

Former Mayor Wayne Eggleston is the event coordinator and Marine liaison. He also spearheaded the construction of Park Semper Fi with its 11-foot-tall statue of a Marine facing out at the ocean and saluting the Marine and US Flags.
For more info, contact:

Wayne Eggleston
Executive Director
The Heritage of San Clemente Foundation
Park Semper Fi, The Marine Monument
P.O. Box 456, San Clemente, CA 92674
949-498-4958
heritage@marinemonument.com
www.marinemonument.com

As Vice President of the Heritage of San Clemente Foundation, I want to acknowledge our wonderful City of San Clemente for giving our troops such a warm and highly visible welcome home. 

It is our wish that other cities across the county will take our example and welcome their soldiers home in a highly visible, heartfelt fashion.

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