Meet Our Donors

Maj. Raymond "John" Vanden Berghe, Jr., USMC (Ret.)

Sharing accounts of Marine Corps valor runs in John Vanden Berghe's family. Even though his grandfather landed on Guam and his father served in the Corps as a Reserve officer, John enrolled in the U.S. Naval Academy intent on being a submariner—until he spent a week on a sub. That experience made him realize subs weren't for him—he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be a Marine.

John was commissioned in 1982 and retired in 2002, after spending his last three years with the Marine Corps University's history division. "Telling the Corps' official history is important to me," says John. "How the National Museum of the Marine Corps educates visitors exceeds my expectations—what has been accomplished already is impressive. Part of what inspired my legacy gift was reading about what motivated others to do so. And I can provide more significant support to an organization that is important to me."