The Stovebolt Site Forums The Side Lot Legion Hall Tun Tavern

If any of you Marines are interested, I am a member of the board of directors for the Philadelphia Pennsylvania based Tun Tavern Legacy Foundation. I don’t have to say anything about the Tun Tavern to any Marine right, lol! At any rate, the Tun Tavern Legacy Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. We are getting ready to proceed on an ambitious plan to rebuild the Tun in Philadelphia. The property is in place and the foundation is now fundraising (started last week when the board gave its approval and the website went live.)

A long time friend and dedicated former Marine is leading the charge. If any of you are inclined, donations great and small would be greatly appreciated.

https://tuntavernphila.org/

https://www.homecoming250.org/the-marine-corps-250th-celebration/tun-tavern-recreated/

Mike -- That looks pretty cool!

Semper Fi,
John

I lived in southern Pa. in my youth. So far south, I could sled down the hill from my house to Md. I love that old architecture. A US Army guy wishes you good luck on the project.

I hear the Space Force has a bargain sale going on the inventory of their "John Wayne" saloon.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/11/29/norad-secret-bar-investigation/71743151007/

LOL!
Jerry

Jerry -- Ah ... The Warrior mentality has been on the way out for 35 years. They are a kinder, gentler, more politically correct crowd these days. Apparently they can't fly a V-22 or a P-8 worth a flip but by golly they'll get each others' pronouns correct.

You should read Bill O'Reilly's book "Killing Patton."

But back to the point ... The significance of Tun Tavern is probably only truly understood by we Marines. It's not that it was a tavern ... although that is cool in a way ... its that it was the birthplace of our Corps. When Sam Nicholas needed to recruit warriors ... If you want to catch fish, you go to where the fish are.

Its not that we don't appreciate the comments, but ...

This is a Leatherneck "thing." If you want to chat about the Space Force (I still have a hard time holding back a giggle ...), feel free to start a new thread.

But know this in all seriousness -- We are United States Marines. We take our history and our traditions seriously. They are sacred to us. We learn them by rote from the moment we raise our right hands. Our history has forged who we are. We recognize and accept that our sister services do not take their own history as seriously as we do. That's fine.

We'll be us. You can be you.

Semper Fi,
John

John, I have the utmost respect for anyone who puts his life on the line in defense of his country- - - -regardless of the branch of service he chooses. My grandson is a Marine- - - -chewed up and spit out by the service he chose to join- - - -physically and emotionally crippled, then tossed out to fend for himself in an uncaring world of his peers who chose to be sniveling cowards, refuse to serve, and look down their collective noses at those of us who made a different choice, for being gullible fools. At least none of us who made that choice, regardless of the branch of service we chose, have to be ashamed to look at the man who stares back at us from the mirror.
Jerry

Interestingly enough, the Masons have history in Philadelphia and in particular, their early foundational history all took place and is rooted at the Tun Tavern. if you have ever visited Philadelphia, you may have had an opportunity to tour the Masonic Lodge. It is one of the most historically important buildings in Philadelphia, and their archives and historical library is amongst the most fascinating and important in the nation. They have in their archives Lafayette’s papers for example. The Board of Directors meetings have all been held at the lodge as the Masons wished to assist the Tun Tavern foundation, as they will also be celebrating their organization in Philadelphia at the Phila250 celebration and the Tun. So they have an interest in the Tun.

https://pamasonictemple.org/

John, I am not and have never been a Marine. But my decades long friend Patrick Daily was a Marine officer who loved being a Marine during his time in active service, and as well as the Marines he served with. He has been working on this for a decade at least and it’s finally coming to fruition as finding an appropriate property in Old City Philadelphia was a real challenge. God bless him but he managed to find a property that was not on the market and was never going to be but the owner agreed to sell the property to the foundation given the nature of the project. A recently retired Marine Colonel has just joined the Board and the project is moving forward pretty quickly now. It took us a long time to find a property situated close enough in Old City to represent the Tun. Pat has done a remarkable amount of research and turned up all kinds of interesting information about the Tun, or as some knew it, Peg Mullin’s.

Pat asked me to assist him in getting the foundation off the ground, obtain their non profit status, and to agree to be a member of the board. He has worked unbelievably hard to get this to fruition so I readily agreed.

I apologize if I sound like a broken record, but any support you can give is much appreciated. Stop by the website for updates.

And yes, really only the Marines have this kind of dedication to the Corp, its history and traditions, and to each other.

I spent 3 years in the US ARMY, but during that time I was in training for all but 1 year and that was spent in Viet Nam. During that time I only ran across a soldier I spent time with. He was an e6 and then I met him after he had a tour of Viet Nam and was at OCS with me. The second time was at Red Stone Arsenal, Alabama after he came back from Viet Nam as a Captain. I said all this to say that because of the smaller size of the Marines and the Air Force, you can make friendships and see them occasionally. My brother served 23 years in the Air Force and occasionally served again with buddies from basics. I visited with him and his family from time to time over the years and that was how they were introduced, there previous duty stations.

Mike ... Again, that is really interesting. The Tun wasn't just one among many taverns in Colonial Philadelphia ... as you know better than I. You raise a very interesting point. Masons .... Continental Marines .... Continental Navy .... There is a reason why these lines not only intersect, but have their origins in this one place. There was something significant about this tavern that drew such men as those Sam Nicolas was seeking for his battalions... and that drew Navy recruiters. And the Masons.

You have a *very* cool project on your hands and I will, indeed, be checking out that website.

Ron ... Hmmmmm. Yes, coming from an Army background, you probably find it hard to comprehend the Marine Corps "brotherhood." We *are* a small service.

When I deployed downrange ... Korea, for example, I knew most of the other officers in my rank. Didn't matter if they were pilots, infantry, supply Corps, Communications, Logistics, Motor T .... Chances were, that if they were my rank, we probably went through TBS together. Or AWS. Or at least close enough that were had many friends in common. Look at here on Stovebolt. Rusty Rod and I were at TBS (Quantico) at the same time. Not uncommon.

In my OCCFLD (4300--Pubic Affairs), in all of the Marine Corps, there were less than 100 officers. Warrant officer through Colonel. We ALL knew each other. Except maybe for the 2ndLts ... And because I spent three years in the Joint Service Public Affairs School House (at Ft Harrison at the time), and all PAOs and Combat Correspondents came through the school house for several career development courses) I knew nearly *everyone* in the Marine Corps Public Affairs MOS. Rusty had a similar experience in the tracked vehicle school house and can probably make a similar claim. Heck, I know, and trained, a lot of Navy, Air Force, Army, Coast Guard and Foreign Military PAOs, too.

It's part of what makes the Corps unique. And very capable on the battlefield. Not only are we a fully integrated air-ground team, but in the field, chances are that when an infantry officer coordinates an air strike with an air unit, anartillery unit and whoever else ... he is speaking to people he knows personally and has been in training with.

Even as a no-account REMF PAO, I still have close friends in most MOS's of the Corps. And quite a few more in the Navy (because of my USNA time). Well, we're all gone from active duty now, but ...

And it all began in a Tavern in Philly ... Not very different from a "Tavern" I spent some time in in Camp "Mud Chuck" (Pohang, Korea) made out of a GP Medium and a bunch of pallets ...).

Ooh Rah.
Skipper

Please allow a lowly FNG (1970-1976) to say how much he enjoys this thread and Respects All the participants and the Corps.

Back in the early ‘90’s I worked with a Marine (Jim Flowers). He was the paid professional Director of the Helena (AR) Chamber of Commerce. I was the VP of Industrial Development. We spent a lot of time in cars traveling to various cities and meetings and dining on our respective expense accounts. We were working on landing a huge Monsanto Chemical plant. The majority of the Chamber membership was from the Good-ol-boy local business bunch. More than once after Jim left the room I heard how they didn’t like that short hair gungho Director. Jim wore a crew cut and didn’t really appreciate excuses or naysayers.
I would occasionally give a bit of unsolicited feedback on what was going on behind closed doors.

Jim once mentioned how small the Corps were, I never really appreciated just what he meant until you put it in perspective John.

We didn’t land Monsanto and Jim was let go a few months later. I ran into him years later and he was working with a publisher, I don’t recall in what capacity.

RonR

Things are moving right along with the Tun Tavern Legacy Foundation. We had a very important milestone event occur this past week which I will report here as soon as I have authority. Should be a press release shortly. In the meantime, here is the first issue of the Tun Times.

https://thetun.org/first-issue-of-the-tun-times/

The Tun Tavern Legacy Foundation's most recent update.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a...s-as-a-tavern-and-restaurant/ar-AA1nR7dp

Quite a few updates for any of the Marines that may be interested and might be inclined to support.

https://thetun.org

Rusty Rod might even make the trek to Tun Tavern at some point. However, RR has not much love for the east coast (it is too far from home). There are many of his acquaintances there tho... so it would be a good trip.

All that's left of Tun Tavern...