Marine Corps

NEWPORT BEACH — Michael Owens had to fight temptation while he put together the Island Hotel’s annual Christmas display — and he won some of the time. The hotel’s executive pastry chef had the task of overseeing the lobby display that accompanies the Island’s holiday toy drive, which benefits the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots campaign. Inside the front doors, Owens helped to set up two statues, a giant greeting card and a mountainside village all made out of chocolate and confections.

NEWPORT BEACH — Dan Marcheano had a restaurant full of Marines to serve Saturday at lunch, so he prepared a dish familiar to anyone who had been in the service. Of course, since it was a special occasion, he made it taste a little better than it might in the trenches. The owner of the Arches Restaurant on 29th Street honors the Marine Corps’ birthday every year by inviting active and retired personnel and their families for a celebratory lunch. In addition to the usual steaks, seafood and other Arches favorites Saturday, Marcheano had his cooks whip up a batch of chipped beef on toast — a dish that, in the military, has a popular name unprintable in a family newspaper.

The owner of the Arches Restaurant announced Saturday that he would award $5,000 to anyone who returned a photo collage that was stolen from his business earlier last week. Meanwhile, the man who donated the display to the restaurant — an 81-year-old retired Marine from Corona del Mar — expressed grief at the loss of what he called a priceless part of history. The collage, which features photographs and other memorabilia from the United States' battles in Japan during World War II, disappeared from the Arches Wednesday evening.

COSTA MESA — It took Harold "Bud" Hohl 22 years in the Marines, nearly 40 years leading a remembrance ceremony, and seven years working on plans for a memorial to get to this day. For some time, he's wanted to get the city a more substantial monument to veterans than the cannon that was installed at Harbor Lawn-Mount Olive Memorial Park in 1954. Today he's closer to his goal, but Hohl isn't finished. As a young man, after four and a half years working in the copper mines of Bisbee, Ariz.

The Marine Corps Birthday Ball is an event that makes the men and their mates feel special, but it’s not one that is always affordable. “Our goal for raising money is to allow the lower ranks to go to the Marine Corps Ball -- sergeants and lower -- to go for free,” said 1st Sgt. John Kob of the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, Newport Beach’s adopted Marine battalion, which recently returned from Iraq where it lost 11 men....

Jonathan Bass, a 2002 Newport Harbor High School graduate, was recently promoted to the rank of corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps. He also received a three-year Good Conduct Medal. Bass, who joined the Marines in August 2001 and graduated from boot camp in October 2002, works in aviation electronics in Beaufort, S.C., where he is stationed. Bass is the son of Jeff and Jeanine Bass of Costa Mesa. Raelyn Drury of Newport Beach is one of 78 Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation recipients from California for the 2005-06 academic year.

Deep in the heart of the military base dotted with artillery ranges and helicopter landing pads, an unlikely scene unfolded Saturday. Young parents lounged and looked on as men in camouflage served cotton candy and cups of flavored ice to their children. A magician performed on a nearby stage. Somebody carried off a bicycle won in a raffle. It was a festive scene made possible by a group of former Marines from Newport Beach. In fact, the city in December 2003 "adopted" the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines, and a committee of local military veterans -- including City Manager Homer Bludau, former Mayor Steve Bromberg and Arches restaurateur Dan Marcheano -- has held several events and raised thousands of dollars to help the Marines and their families.

Chris Yemma Marc Garrison is the true definition of an avid tennis player. The 74-year-old Palisades Tennis Club devotee, truly frequents the facility. Minus rainy days and vacations, Garrison has played at Palisades every day since 1989, when he retired. After waiting until age 58 to pick up the sport, he sure has made up for lost time the last 16 years. The sport has truly been monumental in the latter part of his life. He has old friends he plays with.