LOCUST POINT, Md. — For Harry Hierstetter, being a Marine is more than a title.
“It’s something that’s branded on your heart, on your soul,” Hierstetter said. “It’s a brotherhood.”
Hierstetter served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1969 to 1989. He said he joined during the draft, choosing the reserve program so he could continue helping with his family’s upholstery business in Baltimore.
But decades after his 20 years of military service, Hierstetter’s commitment to the Marine Corps has never gone away.
That commitment continues through the Marine Corps League Baltimore Detachment 565, located at 1426 E. Fort Avenue in Baltimore’s Locust Point neighborhood.
The detachment’s mission is to promote the history and traditions of the United States Marine Corps, strengthen the fraternity of Marines, serve Marines and Fleet Marine Force Navy personnel, and foster Americanism and patriotic volunteerism.
Its legacy is rooted in the national Marine Corps League, which was established nearly 100 years ago. Baltimore Detachment 565 is one of the earlier detachments and was originally named after Baltimore’s own Brigadier General Charles H. Lauchheimer.
Hierstetter has been a member of the Baltimore detachment since 1979. He is a past detachment commandant and now serves as Department Vice Commandant for the 2nd District.
Over the years, his commitment to the Marine Corps League has taken many forms, from helping raise money for the purchase and renovation of the detachment building to visiting Marines at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and raising awareness about veteran care.
Today, at 79 years old, one of his biggest missions takes him hundreds of miles from Maryland to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island in South Carolina.
Several times a year, Hierstetter helps bring a group of Marine veterans to boot camp graduations. The group spends Family Day with new Marines who do not have loved ones there to celebrate.
“The Marines present there that are part of Family Day that don’t have any family present, we adopt for a day and spend the whole day with them,” Hierstetter said.
That day can include lunch, a visit to the museum, a trip to the exchange and conversations about what comes next.
For Hierstetter, the goal is simple: make sure every new Marine knows they are not alone.
“It teaches them from day one about the Marine Corps family,” he said.
The trip started after Hierstetter began traveling to Parris Island on his own. After a few visits, he decided to reach out to the graduating company’s leadership to ask whether there were Marines without family attending graduation. From there, the effort grew.
Now, he often travels with a group of Marine Corps League members who make the trip together from Maryland. They stop overnight in North Carolina before continuing to Parris Island.
Hierstetter said the planning takes attention to detail, with calls, emails and coordination before the group ever arrives. But the work, he said, gives him purpose.
“It gives me a purpose,” Hierstetter said. “It gives the League a reason to exist.”
That purpose is felt in a city where thousands have served. According to U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, there are more than 21,000 veterans living in Baltimore City.
And as the next generation steps forward, the Marine Corps remains a relatively small but deeply connected branch. Congressional Research Service reporting on the FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act lists the authorized active-duty Marine Corps end strength at 172,300.
Over the years, Hierstetter said he has met young Marines from across the country and around the world.
“I’ve had Marines from Turkey, China, Portugal, Dominican Republic, you name it, almost every country,” he said.
Some of those Marines become U.S. citizens around the same time they earn the title Marine. Hierstetter said Parris Island has held naturalization ceremonies on Family Day, with several new Marines taking the oath before graduation.
He has also seen the impact the visits have on families who could not be there in person.
“I’ve had moms with tears rolling down their cheek when they hear that a bunch of old guys came all the way from Maryland to see their son graduate,” Hierstetter said.
To him, that is what the Marine Corps family is all about.
The Baltimore Detachment has been part of Hierstetter’s life for more than four decades. He said many of the Marines who were there when he first joined were members of the same battalion he served in, the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion.
Those men became mentors, friends and brothers.
“You share a history, you share a bond,” he said.
That bond is something Hierstetter now works to pass on to the next generation.
For young Marines just beginning their journey, his advice is simple.
“Don’t give up,” Hierstetter said. “Because you’ll feel like it. Don’t give up and you’ll make it.”
The Marine Corps League Baltimore Detachment 565 is open Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Applications to join can be found on the detachment’s website.
Hierstetter said he hopes to keep making the trip to Parris Island for as long as he is physically and mentally able.
For him, it is one more way to serve the Marine Corps that shaped his life.
“It’s another way that we can give back to the Marine Corps when it’s given to us,” he said.
