American flags line the Murrieta Field of Honor, placed by members of the Murrieta Rotary Club to honor those who served or are serving in the U. S. armed forces, law enforcement, fire and other first responders, or personal heroes. The Marine Corps Birthday celebration was held at the field on Nov. 10, 2023.
American flags line the Murrieta Field of Honor, placed by members of the Murrieta Rotary Club to honor those who served or are serving in the U. S. armed forces, law enforcement, fire and other first responders, or personal heroes. The Marine Corps Birthday celebration was held at the field on Nov. 10, 2023. Credit: Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local

Aryana Noroozi

On Friday Nov. 10, the National Marine Corps’ birthday  was celebrated across the country. Veterans, their families and supporters from Riverside County gathered in Murrieta, where the Field of Honor event was hosted by the Murrieta Rotary Club to honor veterans for their service. 

This year the Marine Corps celebrated its 248th birthday and upheld the event’s tradition of cutting a birthday cake with a Mameluke sword. The first slice of cake was then presented to the guest of honor, the second slice to the oldest Marine present, and the third slice to the youngest Marine present.

Black Voice News accompanied Judy Harter, the wife of a Vietnam veteran, to the event. Harter, who said Veterans Day is her favorite day of the year, co-founded the nonprofit organization All From the Heart,  after experiencing what she describes as a “wake up call” after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The organization provides power wheelchairs to any veteran in need.

Judy Harter, co-founder of All From the Heart, a nonprofit organization that provides power wheelchairs to veterans, poses for a portrait with her granddaughter, Josephine Nilson, in the Murrieta Field of Honor on Nov. 10, 2023. Harter founded the organization after experiencing a “wake up call” after 9/11. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Steven Zeeb, who joined the Air Force in 1979 and served for twenty years, and his wife Barbara McInnis unload a power chair from their truck to take to the Marine Corps Birthday celebration Nov. 10, 2023. The couple hope to to raise awareness about All From the Heart and how the organization offers power wheelchairs to veterans. Zeeb, a Chicago native and Murrieta resident, met McInnis through Harter and her organization. McInnis’s previous husband used a power wheelchair after suffering injuries from Agent Orange exposure. Today, Zeeb and McInnis actively give back through the organization. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
The birthday cake for the Murrieta celebration of the 248th Marine Corps birthday sits on the stage ready to be cut on Nov. 10, 2023. The national celebration includes a tradition of cutting a birthday cake with a Mameluke sword and presenting the first slice of cake to the guest of honor, the second slice to the oldest Marine present and the third slice to the youngest marine present. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Tony Castriotta poses for a portrait in the Murrieta Field of Honor on Nov. 10, 2023. Castriotta, who had recently graduated with a degree in music composition from Berklee School of Music, was drafted into the army. He became a special operator in the first Joint Special Operations Group in the military’s history and worked on special operations in Laos and Cambodia. Castriotta attended the celebration to honor his brothers and sisters. “A lot of the principles that the Marines have, we [the army] have, we don’t leave our dead behind,” Castriotta said. “It’s important to get your brothers and sisters home so that their families can have closure.” He said he found his own closure from attending therapy. “I struggled a lot with survivor syndrome, because I made it out of there. Not necessarily in one piece, but I made it home and a lot of my friends didn’t,” he said. Castriotta says that he took an oath to defend his country and today, “nothing’s changed. If they need us, we’ll be there. They can count on it.” (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Zeeb shakes the hands of a child who thanks him for his service after the celebration concluded on Nov. 10, 2023. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Craig Carper, a major in the Marine Corps and past president of the Rotary Club of Murrieta cuts the cake with a Mameluke sword on Nov. 10, 2023. The sword is intended to “serve as a reminder that the Marine Corps is a band of warriors committed to carrying the sword, so that our nation may live in peace.” The Marine Corps says that this sword is similar to swords used for centuries by Ottoman warriors and the tradition of carrying this sword dates from Lieutenant Presley O’Bannon’s assault of Derna, Tripoli, in 1805, where he is said to have won the sword of the governor of the city. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
On Nov. 10, 2023, Don Krampe, the oldest member of the Marine Corps at the celebration who was born in 1929, gifts his slice of cake to Ethan Crampton, the youngest member born in 2005. The tradition of this birthday celebration is that the oldest member gives the youngest member his piece of cake. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
Zeeb wipes down a power wheelchair after transporting it in the bed of his truck to the Murrieta Marine Corps Birthday celebration on Nov. 10, 2023. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight Local)
A celebration-goer walks through the Murrieta Field of Honor after the Marine Corps Birthday celebration concluded on November 10, 2023. (Aryana Noroozi for Black Voice News / CatchLight

Black Voice News photojournalist Aryana Noroozi was born in San Diego, California and graduated with a master’s degree from The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Her love for visual storytelling led her to document immigrant and deportee communities and those struggling with addiction. She was a 2020 Pulitzer Center Crisis Reporting Fellow and a GroundTruth Project Migration Fellow. She is currently a CatchLight/Report for America corps member employed by Black Voice News. You can learn more about her at aryananoroozi.com. You can email her at aryana@blackvoicenews.com.