In November 1775, the Continental Congress commissioned Major Samuel Nicholas as the first officer of the newly formed Continental Marines. A native of Philadelphia and a man of deep integrity, Nicholas embodied what North Carolinians later enshrined as their state motto: Esse Quam Videri — To Be, Rather than to Seem. Nicholas’s leadership was not…
On February 21, 1893, the General Assembly of North Carolina ratified legislation establishing the Latin phrase Esse Quam Videri as the motto of North Carolina. The Latin phrase means “to be, rather than to seem” and is taken from a philosophical treatise on friendship by the Roman thinker and writer Marcus Tullius Cicero (d. 43 B.C.).[i] Part…
Carolina Museum of the Marine is honored to welcome Lieutenant General Robert F. “Fuzzy” Hedelund, USMC (Ret), to its Board of Directors. General Hedelund retired from the Marine Corps in 2021 after 39 years of distinguished service. His final assignment was as Commanding General, U.S. Marine Forces Command, Fleet Marine Force Atlantic, and U.S. Marine Forces Northern Command, where…
Meet the Marine. Be Inspired. FRONT AND CENTER Vol. 3, No 10, October 2025 Opening Spring of 2026 Mission Honor, preserve, and teach the legacy of Carolina Marines and Sailors. Showcase the Marine example to inspire future generations. Message from the President and CE0 Fellow Patriots, This October marks 42 years since the Beirut bombing…
On October 23, 1983, a truck bomb destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 U.S. service members—Marines, Sailors, and Soldiers—who were serving as peacekeepers in a land torn by conflict. The tragedy was, at the time, the deadliest single-day loss for the Marine Corps since Iwo Jima. At the Beirut Memorial in Lejeune…
The Marine Corps understands the importance of tradition. Tradition maintains the identity of a people over time, and a healthy tradition contains within it, through its moral and religious commitments, the means of its improvement over time. Within a larger cultural tradition there are traditions specific to important elements in a society and proper to…
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