The Grundy County Marine Corps League is a bit more exclusive than some of the other veterans organizations around Grundy County: Commandant Jeff Alexander said it’s the only branch-specific veterans organization.

Alexander said the league’s goal is to promote the history of the U.S. Marine Corps and its traditions, and to serve Marines, Navy Corpsmen, and Navy chaplains, and to foster the ideals of “Americanism, patriotism and volunteerism.”

A lot of this is done through fundraisers, like gun raffles, and the money is used to help veterans, veterans’ organizations and charities around Grundy County.

“Every year, we give money to the Marine Corps National Scholarship Foundation, which is for the children of fallen Marines or corpsmen,” Alexander said. “We give scholarships here in Grundy County to the five high schools.”

He said they also support We Care, the Special Olympics, Tunnels to Towers, Polar Plunge, the Grundy County Veterans Assistance Commission and more.

The Marine Corps League has also participated in an event with the Veterans Assistance Commission, holding a signing day event similar to what schools do for athletes going on to compete at the college level.

“We’re trying to promote the Marine Corps,” Alexander said. “You’d be surprised how many kids are interested. I had a kid at Corn Fest, his goal was to join and his mother wanted to steer him the right way. I was telling him, you have to go to school. You have to get good grades, stay out of trouble, and stay fit.”

Alexander served in the Marine Corps from 1984 to 1988, and he served as a corporal using an anti-tank rocket.

“I was a grunt, in the infantry,” Alexander said. “It was a big missile, about five feet, that you had to carry everywhere you went. There were these trackers, these big scopes that had to be put on the missile, so you had to move those around and you know, you see my size. That’s why I was part of it. I was the pack mule.”

Alexander was stationed out of Camp Pendleton in California, traveling overseas twice to Okinawa, Japan, and the Philippines.

He said he was in the Philippines right around Ferdinand Marcos was ousted from power.

“We were having a field meet,” Alexander said. “You know, you go out and play games, and all of a sudden, they said go back to the barracks and pack your stuff.”

The company flew to the Philippines that very night and the rest of the battalion got there the next day. Alexander said nothing was prepared, so his company had to clean the barracks, put beds together and get mattresses.

He spent about two months in the Philippines from that point. He said the admiral there wanted a show of force surrounding the election that ended up ousting Marcos. He wanted the Marines there just in case.

Alexander said his guys gather yearly to celebrate the Marine Corps’ birthday, and when they gather, they try to promote the traditions that they had instilled in them in boot camp, as much as they can.

“It’s a great opportunity to gather with other Marines who understand what you went through, what you did, and it seems we get along better with each other than with the other services,” Alexander said. “They don’t understand as well.”