MARINER’S MILE -- The bagpipe band played...

MARINER’S MILE -- The bagpipe band played the “Marines Hymn,” while

guests dined on prime rib and reveled in a series of toasts, but

Thursday night was about the “First of the First,” the 1st Battalion,

1st Marines.

“This is the most patriotic event I’ve been to in 10 years,” said

Newport Beach Mayor John Heffernan.

Thursday was “mess night” at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort.

Leathernecks wearing the Marine Corps dress blue uniforms showed up

to celebrate the traditional military dinner. The few and the proud

were joined by a crowd of civilians in formal wear who paid $225 per

person to sponsor individual Marines.

The dinner was held to honor the Camp Pendleton battalion,

expected to return to the Middle East in January to serve near

Fallouja, Iraq. This is the second year in a row the First Battalion,

First Marines Adoption Committee and the city of Newport Beach have

sponsored a mess night. The dinner was a fundraiser to aid the

families of Marines who are serving in the war.

“When the 1/1 goes off to war again, we will be there for their

families when they need us,” said former Newport Beach Mayor Steve

Bromberg.