James R. “Daddy Wags” Wagner for more than 30 years was the owner of Cookie’s Tavern at 10th & Oregon Avenue in South Philadelphia where he hosted an annual Marine Corps birthday celebration every November 10th. Marine Sergeant Wagner served two tours in Vietnam earning numerous decorations and a Purple Heart. His two daughters, Joyce and Jamie now carry on the annual Marine Corps birthday tradition.

What began as one man's way of honoring his country has grown, a lot. Oregon Avenue is closed off between 10th and 11th Streets to accommodate thousands of visitors, military and civilian, who have come from all over the United States to celebrate the occasion in “Wags” memory. Happy Birthday Marines!

Happy 237th Birthday Marines!

On the cover of MARINES magazine is Medal of Honor recipient Dakota Louis Meyer (born June 26, 1988) is a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Ganjgal on September 8, 2009, in Kunar Province, Afghanistan. Dakota Meyer is the second youngest living Medal of Honor recipient, the third living recipient for either Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan and the first living Marine in 38 years to be so honored

‘A Veteran is someone who wrote a blank check, payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including his or her own life’

Leathernecks Nation M/C

Jim "Daddy Wags" Wagner was the kind of guy who, if there was a pothole in the church parking lot, he'd pay for it to be filled," Col. Harvey C. "Barney" Barnum, former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy and a Medal of Honor recipient, said. "There's not enough room in the biggest mansion to house this man's heart."