In 1953, Marine Corps Colonel A. Duncan Shaw, Sr., learned that a group of teenagers burned an American flag at a Southern California high school.  Aggravated by this activity and the attitudes among American youth it represented, Colonel Shaw and a group of retired Marine Corps Reserve Officers, now prominent Southern California businessmen, asked the Commandant of the Marine Corps to help with a community benefit project that would aid the development of character qualities in teenage boys and girls, and enable them to become healthier and more successful young citizens.

The idea was to bring these youth down to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and let them observe how Marines are trained and then for ten days be trained themselves by volunteer Marine escorts.

The Commandant agreed that the Marine Corps would cooperate if this group of former Marines would form a charitable corporation to solicit contributions needed for food, transportation, insurance and other sustainable items which the government cannot pay for.