The Marine Corps League Modesto Detachment will be celebrating the 248th Birthday of the United States Marine Corps Thursday, Nov. 9 at the Stanislaus Veterans Center in Modesto with a dinner and traditional ceremony. The guest of honor and keynote speaker will be Richard Campos, a local marine recognized by congress for his humanitarian efforts.

Campos served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and later in the U.S. Marshals Service and San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Department, retiring in 2006. He also served in the National Guard and took part in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

In 2009, Campos began his humanitarian efforts by delivering 1.5 million dollars in medical equipment to a children’s hospital in Basra, Iraq. He currently has made five trips to Ukraine to deliver combat medical kits and other supplies, including special burn cream to a hospital in Lviv. These efforts earned him special congressional recognition from the 117th Congress for his “selfless and courageous humanitarian acts.”

The event will include traditional honor guard and cake cutting ceremonies and a message from the new Commandant of the Marine Corps General Eric M. Smith. It will be catered by La Morenita Mexican Restaurant and is open to the public. Tickets are $40 per person, but free to Gold Star Families. They are currently on sale at the Stanislaus Veterans Center, 3500 Coffee Road, Suite 15 or by contacting Jim Laurenti at (209) 681-9068 or (209) 681-1376.

The doors will open at 4 p.m. for social hour with a no host bar, but no one will be allowed in after 4:50 p.m. so as not to interfere with the traditional ceremonies.