For the fifth year Marine Corps veteran and Retired U.S. Navy Captain Chuck Roots  is hosting a special birthday breakfast to honor the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps at Spring Creek Golf and Country Club in Ripon on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 8 a.m.

The coveted speaker for the morning event is Major General Mike Myatt, presently the CEO of the Marines’ Memorial Association in San Francisco.

General Myatt served two combat tours in the Republic of Vietnam with his first tour serving as a platoon and company commander with the First Battalion, Fourth Marines.  During his second tour he was assigned as infantry battalion advisor to the fifth Battalion, Vietnamese Marine Corps.

Myatt commanded the First Marine Division during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990-1991.  His Division defeated seven Iraqi Army divisions in zone and seized Kuwait International Airport and liberated Kuwait City.

He retired from the Marine Corps in 1995 and accepted a position with Bechtel Corporation where he managed the $22 billion construction project to build the Korean High Speed Rail from Seoul to Pusan.  In September of 2001 he was selected to become the president and CEO of the Marines’ Memorial Association.  General Myatt assumed that post in September of that year, 12 years ago. 

All are welcome to attend the breakfast but Roots, now pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Ripon, asks that advance reservations be made for the morning event.  The cost is $13 and the gratuity is included. 

For reservations call the country club at 599-5451.