 Tucker. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to everybody. And welcome to the home of the Commandants. Each year at the holiday season, the house is decorated by volunteers from top to bottom for the holiday season. And normally, because it's a national historic landmark, tours come through here, groups of people come through here almost every day for weeks. But because of COVID last year, we weren't allowed. We weren't able to do that. But some people had a little bit different idea, which turned out to be pretty good. So last year, we decided to do a video tour of the house so that we could reach more people than even that can come on the tours. This year, we're doing both. So we have tours, and we also have the video. So while we walk you through the house, and you get a picture for what it's like to live in the home of the Commandants, and it's really a privilege for us, we'd ask you also to think about all the Marines and sailors who won't be home for the holidays who are deployed, who are away from their families, from their homes. And keep them in your mind as we go through the holiday season. And keep their families in your thoughts and prayers, too, as they serve at home, too. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of General and Mrs. Berger, I'd like to welcome you to the Home of the Commandants. The Home of the Commandants is the oldest lived in federal residence in all of Washington, DC. Construction was completed in 1805, and the house was first lived in in 1806. The room we are currently in is known as the drawing room. This room historically has been a room used for entertainment, as well as to host guests throughout the historic past here in the home. And we notice throughout the home, there's going to be tons and tons of portraits of prior Commandants. The idea behind the portraits is actually not to put a face to the name, but rather track progression in Marine Corps uniforms. All the decorations were put up by volunteers who spend a couple days here. We have a great time doing it. They love coming here and being a part of it. So the Christmas decorations, the vast majority of them belong to the house, but we do have a few of our personal ones, like the elves back here. That's a collection of ours. I've been collecting those for several years. And I just, the first one I ever saw, I just really loved them. They've just got such happy faces to them. You can't help but look at them and smile. And we've got a few of those surrounding the living rooms. The first portrait we're going to talk about here within this room is going to be General Mundy. His portraits actually won a few in the entire home that's actually taken or painted with him standing in the office of the Commandant. General Mundy is the only Commandant that's actually put a detailed description on the back of his portrait that describes every small item within the portrait. Just next to that, we have General Dunford. General Dunford actually was one of the shorter tenured Commandants in the Marine Corps history. However, he left office to actually serve as the Chairman and Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is a very well-distinguished billet. We're currently standing in what is known as the music room. This room is adjacent to the drawing room, and here this room would have been used also for entertainment, hence the name Music Room. And this room we do have some other significant portraits, the first of which that we're going to go over is General Jones. General Jones was the first Commandant to actually include a portrait or picture of his spouse within his official portrait. He actually took his portrait or had it painted with him standing above the fireplace here in this room. On the mantle of the fireplace, you'll notice that he has his wedding picture. And just across from that, we have General Amos's portrait. General Amos was the first aviator who became the Commandant of the Marine Corps. He was a firm believer that we as Marines can only go so far in our career without a well-established support system, and that support system happened to be his spouse, Mrs. Amos. Besides that, here in the room, we have other significant items, such as the couch that Archibald Henderson died on. Believe it or not, Archibald Henderson, we call him the Grand Old Man in the Marine Corps, and he served as the Commandant for a total of 38 years. He did live here in the home throughout the duration as his appointment as the Commandant. Just below the portrait of General Jones, we have several items that belong to John Philip Sousa. John Philip Sousa was known as the Marine Corps March King, and he enlisted it at the age of 14 as an apprentice to the Marine Corps Band. These items were his, and there's a lot of stories that actually pertain to these as well. The most significant is going to be about the Glass Dragonfly Lamp. It was believed in 2011 after a small earthquake hit Washington, D.C. that one of the Marine Corps enlisted aides actually ran all the way across the parade deck into the home and laid at the base of the lamp just to protect it from breaking. The room we are currently in now, this room is known as the Sun Porch. Here within this room, you'll notice the original exterior of the home as well as a great view of Marine Barracks, Washington, which is the oldest post in the Marine Corps. I think my favorite room in the house is the Sun Porch because it looks out over the parade deck. You can't see them, but you can picture in your mind what it would be like to be a Marine station here 150, 200 years ago, because you're looking right out at it. So it's really, and it's all glass, it's just a beautiful view. It's a beautiful parade deck, but it's also a picture of what the Barracks was like 50 years ago, 150 years ago. It's really, we spend a lot of time sitting out there. All right, the room we are currently in, this is the Commandant's personal office. So when the Commandant has to telework or have any kind of business calls or any teleconferences, he does do that here from this office. There's so much history in that room, and you get to put the books that you'd like to see in there and the pictures that are historic. It's not a great big office, but it reminds you of all the people who have lived in this house and served the Marine Corps in the past. It's for me, it's a pretty special one. We pick the pictures that are in there and the pictures for me that are most special are the ones from Vietnam and from Korea, because they're really hard times in Korea, a really tough place to operate. And Vietnam, a reminder to me that service members and their families weren't treated the same when they came back from Vietnam. And we need to never have that happen again. So the room that we're currently in now is called the Lady's Sitting Room. This room is dedicated to female service members in the Marine Corps. You can tell that by the different portraits located throughout the home. It's been a really positive thing to highlight how our military women are making a difference. There is a painting in there, and it's of the Statue of Liberty, and it was painted by Colonel Donna Neary, whose portrait is also on the wall. She did it after 9-11, and it's called Liberty Rising, and it's just a powerful portrait. Here on the fireplace mantle, we have two different pieces, the first of which is gonna be sweetheart jewelry. This is jewelry that was worn by loved ones of Marines. And just next to that, we have a picture of Lieutenant Colonel Mann and Major Mug Belly, which are the first two female astronauts that serve as commissioned officers in the Marine Corps. All right, ladies and gentlemen, now we are currently located at the main entrance of the home. Here, you'll notice that we do have several significant items, the first of which are gonna be the first two portraits of our first two Commandants within the Marine Corps. Next, we have a very large mirror, which does anchor this location in the home. This mirror is gifted or given to the home by the Lea State in Arlington, Virginia. The last one that we're gonna go over on the first floor of the home of Commandants is going to be the formal dining room. This room is used to host formal parties, just for exactly what it says, for dining experiences. After items in the room, we have General Lejeun's Fine China Collection, which was donated to the house by his daughter, who also served as a Marine. Just across from me, we have a portrait of Archbord Henderson and his wife that was painted by Colonel Waterhouse. Colonel Waterhouse is a very well known Marine Corps artist, and he was once a very, very close friend of the Amos family. Actually has his own room dedicated to him on the third floor. Just across from the Archbord Henderson portrait, we have another portrait, which was also painted by Colonel Waterhouse. This portrait, once again, does have Archbord Henderson, his wife, Anna Marie. However, this portrait depicts them in the Parade Deck or now Parade Deck here at Marine Barracks, Washington. And in the background, you'll notice that we do have the home of the Commandants. However, it's not white. In this portrait, it's a salmon or pink colored home. And the reason behind that is actually because when the Marines who built the home, killed the brick state, may have overkill them. And that's what really gave them the pink color of the home. However, the home was painted in 1940 to match the rest of the federal buildings in Washington, DC. So thanks for sharing this special time of year with us. We hope you enjoy to look inside the home of the Commandants. And we wish each and every one of you a very happy holidays.