Saluting all our soldiers from the past to present. I am posting this photo this week for this salute. Here we have a group of Marines that were the first defenders of the Panama Canal .. the United States Marines.  Here in this photo is the Marine Band at Camp Elliot in 1906.

This photo is from the Fred and Lilian Ramsey collection that was sent to me by Richard Crowe who is Fred Ramsey's Great Nephew. 

Here is part of Richard's commentary:

My great uncle, Fred Ramsey, 1Lt United States Marine Corps (USMC), and his wife, Lilian, were stationed at Camp Elliott in the Panama Canal Zone between December 1905 and July 1907.  Fred was the battalion adjutant.  He was also assigned to the USMC unit that went to Panama in 1903 to help facilitate Panama ’s declaration of independence.

Fred is not pictured in this photo of the band, but I plan on posting more of this collection with Fred and Lilian present throughout the weeks to come.  This is is a very nice collection of photos that I am sure all of you will enjoy.

After zooming in and studying the photo up close, the letters on the ground U.S.M.C. appear to be made with upside down bottles pushed into the ground.  I have come across side walks in the old construction towns that were made with clay bottles pushed into the ground upside down.  These in the picture appear to be dark glass liquor bottles.  I can’t tell if they are square or round.  This would have been a nice find if these were still in the ground when I was searching the area back in my bottle collecting days..

May everyone take a moment to thank all our fallen service men and women on this Memorial Day.  Without them, we would not have the freedoms or lives we have today.  God Bless all of them.