[oh8eleven]

And just who did we send to Tripoli?

1805 - U.S. Marines assemble a fleet to Derna, Tripoli to put down Barbary Coast pirates taking a toll on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean. Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and his Marines marched across 600 miles of North Africa's Libyan Desert to successfully storm the fortified Tripolitan City of Derna. Marines today sing about the victory in the second line of their hymn: "to the shores of Tripoli." The Marine Corps officer sword, adopted in 1826 and used today, is modeled after the Mameluke scimitar given to O'Bannon in appreciation.

They marched 600 miles across the desert and still kicked butt! Semper Fi ...