SW0114 Marine Vietnam Vet Preserves Corps Heritage as Seminole War-era Leatherneck

Marines in the Second Seminole War served on land at and around Fort Foster in central Florida as well as in the Everglades where some dubbed them as swamp sailors. 

Visitors on the Fourth of July, American independence day, call at the Tampa Bay History Center to learn more about our heritage. Built on the site of the old Fort Brooke military reservation, the center invites distinguished guests to present on a number of topics. Marine Living Historian Dave Ekardt is one of them. He has been a perennial at the center over the years, presenting talks and demonstrations about the Marines in the Second Seminole War. He also presents at various recreated forts and commemorative battle events.

 

Dave Ekardt in a summer and temperate U.S. Marine Corps uniform from 1830s. 

He joins us today to share how in seven years of war, the Marines in Florida suffered nary a blemish to their reputation during their tour of duty. While an often futile assignment for the Army, Marines made the best of their presence and demonstrated without a doubt their great value to the nation’s leaders when the nation needed them for pressing business.

Dave shares stories and anecdotes about the Marines contributions to the Second Creek and Seminole Wars. The old man of the Marines, Commandant Archibald Henderson, proved a daring, brash, brave, and professional in running the Corps and in bringing them to Florida. Dave examines that deployment, as well as the Marines’ uniforms and chow, and how his natural curiosity helped him to acquire invaluable records on Marines. These covered the Seminole War but they also provided slices of life about Marines who served later, such as in Nicaragua. Dave pulled information from a variety of resources to eventually pen a book on that Marine’s service there.

Dave Ekardt has published three non-fiction books relating to the the Marines in U.S. military history. 

Host Patrick Swan is a board member with the Seminole Wars Foundation. He is a combat veteran and of the U.S. Army, serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Kosovo, and at the Pentagon after 9/11. A military historian, he holds masters degrees in Public History, Communication, and Homeland Security, and is a graduate of the US Army War College with an advanced degree in strategic studies. This podcast is recorded at the homestead of the Seminole Wars Foundation in Bushnell, Florida. 

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