Father shares Marine Corps birthday cake with son the day he graduates from boot camp

Every November around the world, Marines celebrate the Corps’ birthday with a cake-cutting ceremony where the oldest Marine present passes the first slice off to the youngest Marine. The ritual represents one generation of Marines handing their experience and traditions off to the next, but rarely is it taken so literally as it was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Nov. 6, when a staff noncommissioned officer passed the cake to his son, who had just graduated boot camp earlier that day.

Master Sgt. Philip Joseph Bender, 42, shared the moment with Pfc. Noah Riley Bender, 18, at the Marine Corps’ 251st birthday ball held by Combat Logistics Battalion 26. Cpl. Salvador Flores Perez interviewed and photographed the elder and younger Bender for a Marine Corps news article.

That moment was a long time coming. Philip Bender graduated from boot camp at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, in 2006. He became a logistics/embarkation specialist and deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Noah Bender was born shortly after Philip returned.

“When Noah was born, I never could have imagined that he would want to follow in my footsteps,” Philip Bender, who was 23 at the time, said in the release. “I was a young Marine, but he quickly became my whole world.”

The next 18 years saw the Bender family move to Parris Island, South Carolina, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and Norfolk, Virginia. Philip Bender served and deployed with units across the Corps, including stints aboard amphibious assault ships and as a drill instructor at Parris Island. Somewhere along the way, Noah Bender caught the Corps bug — albeit not the “recruit crud,” though he probably caught that later at Parris Island.

“He said from an early age that he wanted to be like dad and be a Marine,” his father said in the news release. “When he was little, he was always dressing up in cammies or putting on my covers and pretending to be a Marine. As a teenager, he was so excited to join the [Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps] at Lejeune High School. I have always encouraged it and supported his dream of becoming a Marine.”

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Keeping up the literal interpretation of traditions, Noah Bender followed his father’s path and stepped on the same yellow footprints where his father started his Marine Corps journey at Parris Island 20 years earlier. The yellow footprints are where recruits stand in their first formation after getting off the bus on their first day of boot camp. The younger Bender joined Echo Company, 2nd Recruit Training Battalion, the very company where his father served as a drill instructor more than a decade prior.

“He wrote in a letter that after each event, he would look down at his name tape, the ‘BENDER’ name tape, and say, ‘Dad I did it, I passed the next thing,’” said Philip Bender.

Then, it came time for the Crucible, a grueling 54-hour ordeal that involves running obstacle courses, marching with heavy packs, and problem-solving, all while still being harried by drill instructors, but this time with little food and even less sleep.

As he finished the final 15-kilometer hike, the tired and dirt-covered young private first class was pulled out of formation and greeted by his father.

“I rushed to him and felt relief, like, I have the [Eagle, Globe and Anchor pin], I have the title Marine, I have what my dad has. Instead of wearing his name it felt like our name,” said Noah Bender. “I finally made it to the point where I am not only representing my dad, but myself and the Marine Corps.”

It was a big moment for his father, too.

“I was so proud, happy, excited, and so many emotions all at once,” said Philip Bender.

Noah Bender’s next assignment is Marine Combat Training at Camp Geiger, North Carolina, and then onto the signal intelligence career field. But first, he and his dad had an appointment with a slice of cake.

“It felt amazing that I just graduated and now I’m standing next to my dad and having him pass the cake and the traditions to me,” Noah Bender said.