United States Marine Corps 251st Birthday Party
Hartford Road Cafe
Manchester
Nov. 10, 2026
The Marines started in a bar. Marine and owner of the Hartford Road Cafe Chris Morin declared proudly that 251 years later, they were still in a bar.
Morin hosted his annual birthday party for the United States Marine Corps at his bar in Manchester. He also proudly announced the Marine Corps is in fact one year older than the nation itself, which is only celebrating its semiquincentennial this year.
“We were here first to make sure the country was protected!” he said to cheers from the gathering of Marines, other military members, their families and friends.
Morin did his service from 1975-1980. He said the Marine Corps’ birthday party is his favorite day of the year.
“Everyone looks forward to this night,” he said, gesturing to the nearly packed bar. “We may not see each other all year, but when November comes around we’re all here.”
Morin started to say something else, but the Marine Corps Hymn started playing. Without a word, he and everyone else in the bar stood at attention until the song was completed.
“Everyone knows what to do and when to do it,” he said. “I love it.”
Live music was on tap too. A host of local band legends volunteered their time to perform a range of country and Americana classics. They didn’t have a name when I asked, so I dubbed them the SuperGroup: Dave O’Hagan and AJ from the band Shovelhead; Jeannie Murphy of Jeannie and the BOC; Seve Wovkanech aka “Hot Jesus” and more. They had the energy and fun of a jam band, but when you put together talented musicians you get more than just jam band music.
We had beer and music, but It’s not a party without a birthday cake, and Morin provided one. The cake-cutting tradition called for the oldest and youngest Marines present to do the honors. This year’s oldest Marine is Sam Gibson, who served from 1958-1962 (Gibson also plays in the SuperGroup). He was stationed at Okinawa, and said those years were the most formative of his life, helping him to see places and meet people he otherwise never would have.
“I wouldn’t trade those years for anything,” he said.
There were so many stories told to me last night, so much history and humor and I’m sorry that I can’t do justice to all of it. But one story that did stick with me was of John Murphy, the man who usually won the cake-cutting contest on the older side. Murphy was dethroned last year when a 103-year old Marine Corps veteran came out to celebrate the Corps’s 250th anniversary.
I was told that story by Joe Forgetta, a retired postal worker who was at the Cafe with a group of friends. After Murphy’s tour of duty, he spent more than 40 years as a mail carrier in East Hartford. Murphy passed away earlier this year, and his friends still came to the birthday party in his honor.
The bond between Marines and the civilians that know and love them is strong. But even that bond pales in comparison to the one between Marines, and the birthday party showed that. The word I kept hearing over and over was “brotherhood”. It’s not an empty platitude or a recruiting slogan. It’s a connection across time and space, between every man and woman who walked into Parris Island as ordinary humans and walked out as Marines.
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