The greatest man I've ever known will be 90 this October 5. He probably didn't have to, but he enlisted in the Corps and fought across the Pacific from 1942-1945, Guadalcanal on to Okinawa. Believe it or not, he still shoots side by side with me on his good days, which are fewer and fewer I'm sad to say.
I want to do something really special for his 90th, and would love to hear some suggestions.
I've already tried to get some of his old marine buddies together, but as you can imagine, there aren't many of these ol' boys left.
Got any ideas?

Build him a display for his or of Marine stuff and put in a 1911 and a Ka-Bar.

At his age, guns are not important.  Spending time with you, however, is VERY important.  Take him to a ball game like Aimless said.  My grandfather loved baseball and he would have been 90 this year.  

Memories and loved ones are all that are important to him and I hope you relish the memories while he's still here!

I agree with Aimless -- but with a twist -- get as much of the family, and as many friends as possible, and head out to the ballpark.  Depending on where you're at, and how things are done there, you might even be able to get name & birthday read off by the announcer.

FOTBR

Some great suggestions, gentlemen. I thank you. He has always been a baseball fan, and was a .45 instructor in the Corps for a short while before shipping out. He still owns a Colt 1911.
And fear not Balzac, I have and will continue to enjoy him for as long as the Good Lord allows.

Long ride or flight but take him to Knob Creek - October 11, 12, & 13th & show him how real Americans still enjoy a few freedoms he fought for way back when.

Now that's whatcha call Old Corps.

Tell that old Marine happy birthday from another Marine and American and  that truely appreciates the shit he went through over there figthing for our freedom.

[marines]

An old Marine never gets tired of getting new Marine Corps stuff. One of those new Corps flags, a Corps billfold, keychain, etc. is way cool for a Marine.

There's several websites that have Marine Corps stuff. I'll raise a glass on 10 Nov. !!!

First of all, sit down with the Old Gentleman and take down his oral history of his time in the Corps.  All too much of that is being lost every day.  You can decide what to do with it later on...but find out what happened.  He might like that too.

Next, get him a shadow box.  You can order them online.

My men gave me a beautiful one when I retired.  It is peaked and contains a flag that flew over the capital building in DC, plus my dress medals and decorations, plus a collar device of all my ranks & a small brass plaque of all my duty stations.  I would ask your dad if he has any original stuff from his days in the Corps and put them in.  If not, just find out where he served and when, what ranks he held and what medals he was awarded.  Some are automatic, like the WW II Victory, Pacific Theater, National Defense, etc.  You can figure those out fairly easily.  Then find out if he got the Purple Heart, or a decoration for valor like the Silver Star or even maybe the Navy Cross...or whatever.  Then you just tell the company that makes up the shadow box what to put in there.  They should be able to acquire the medals easily and build the box for you.

Take him out to a nice restaurant or have a party at home and present the box to him.  Have a camera ready.  Don't forget to have the Marine Hymn ready on the stereo and make sure you are ready to assist your dad to his feet when the music starts.

Enjoy!

Here is an example site that sells shadow boxes:  [url]http://www.olival.com/home.htm[/url]

Do what we did for my granddad when he turned 90.

Take him to Las Vegas...then one evening send a pretty young lady up to his room...when gramps opened the door to his room she opened her robe, showing a sexy little negligie and told him "I'm here to offer you super sex."

Gramps looked her up and down and said "I'll have the soup."
[:D] It's a joke....[:D]