Rockwall County Sheriff Terry Garrett, local Marines honored with Distinguished Bodfish Service Award
ROCWALL, TX – May 24, 2021 — This past weekend, the Bodfish Chapter – Association of Marines and FMF Corpsmen held its annual Campout at Sabine Creek Ranch and welcomed the renowned Mounted Color Guard.
The Bodfish Chapter, a nonprofit veterans organization, was formed after World War II in the 1960s by a group led by John Loomis which consisted of two Marines and three Navy Corpsmen. The member base for the group grew exponentially over the course of several decades and in 2003, comprised more than 500 active and retired Marines. The Bodfish Chapter would meet every year over President’s Day weekend at Loomis’s ranch in California for their annual Campout, an event which celebrates the past, present and future of the United States Marine Corps. After Loomis passed away in 2007, the Loomis family determined they could no longer continue to host the Campouts at their ranch each year. A new location for the annual meeting was soon after discovered at Britt Park, and the first Campout there was held in 2010.
With the COVID restrictions in place in California, the Bodfish Chapter were unable to hold their Campout there this year. They contacted Texas Governor Greg Abbott and he welcomed them with open arms, and thus the Campout commenced at Sabine Creek Ranch. This year marked the first year that the annual Bodfish Campout has been held outside of California.
“Sabine Creek Ranch was the perfect venue for the Campout,” said Dale Turner, a Past President of Bodfish. “Their staff were extremely accommodating and treated the Marine Horses like royalty.”
Kickstarting the Campout – designated “Camp Napier” after Burnett Napier, one of the last surviving founding members of the chapter and a Corpsman in WWII – was a formation presented by the United States Marine Corps Mounted Color Guard. The unit is the last remaining Mounted Color Guard in the Marine Corps, and has been a part of the annual Campout for the past 25 years. It travels across the country performing at rodeos, parades and ceremonies, including the Rose Bowl Parade which the unit leads each year. What makes the unit even more special is that its horses are wild mustangs adopted from the Bureau of Land Management’s Adopt a Horse and Burro Program.
The Bodfish Marines witnessed a very special event during Camp Napier in the retirement ceremony of Rookie – one of the Mounted Color Guard’s mustangs.
Several Bodfish members were recognized with awards for their dedication and service to the chapter. Rockwall County Sheriff Terry Garrett, Gayle Adcock and Quint Avenetti received the Distinguished Bodfish Service Award for their service in helping make the Camp Napier at Sabine Creek Ranch a reality. Sergeant Tim Wolfbrandt received the Bodfish Sword of Honor, an official regulation Marine NCO sword presented annually at the Bodfish Campout.
Other awards during Camp Napier went to Dr. James Nicholson, Michael “Doc” Rannigan, Jeff Skinner, and Dennis London for their contributions.
By Austin Wells, Blue Ribbon News.
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Sabine Creek Ranch hosts Bodfish Chapter – Association of Marines Campout, welcomes Mounted Color Guard added by Austin on
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