The Gator Detachment held its annual birthday ball on 2 November 2019 at the Turkey Creek Clubhouse.  Nearly 300 guests enjoyed a traditional ball ceremony, dinner, dancing and raffles.

Sandra Torres-Pintos once again served as emcee for the ceremonies while Jim Yakubsin and Scott DuPree made announcements.

Guest of Honor LtGen Jack Bergman (USMC Ret) once again attended and gave a nice talk on the values of honor, courage and commitment and living a life of integrity.

Cary and Jamie Hill of the Milton Lewis Young Marines made their presentation to YM MGySgt Nathan Crawford, their unit Young Marine of the Year.  They also made a special presentation to the unit co-founder Scott DuPree.

Scott DuPree made the presentation for Associate of the Year to Linda Yakubsin, and Jim Yakubsin presented the award for Detachment Marine of the Year to John Murdoch.  

Groove 41 provided live music for the dancing crowd and Chris Robinson was onhand to take photos throughout the event, which will be posted on our site when we receive them.

Guests also won raffle prizes which included and handgun, a 50" TV, a Smoker, a cooler full of fishing gear and beer, another cooler which included a football signed by Dan Mullen and tickets to the FL/FSU game, and many other prizes.  A 50/50 drawing provided a lucky winner with over $300.00 cash.

A good time was had by all.  Our birthday ball committee will be meeting within the week to begin planning the next ball to be held on 7 Nov 2020. We expect to have details about that in the spring.

Semper Fi.
Scott