For Sgt. Anthony Rider, celebrating the Marine Corps birthday meant a little more than usual this year.

Rider, a native of Baldwin who lives in Shawnee, returned to the United States in October after serving in Iraq for six months. He was one of about 225 people who attended a ceremony Friday honoring both the 228th birthday of the Marine Corps and Veterans Day, which is Tuesday.

“I think it’s great,” the 34-year-old Marine said. “It puts everything in perspective. When I’m there, I missed my family, but looking around this room I see people who sacrificed more than I could ever imagine. I’m honored to be part of that.”

This was the 13th year Lawrence has played host to a Marine Corps birthday party, a tradition among Marines worldwide. It was the first year for it to be celebrated at the Dole Institute of Politics at Kansas University.

“The Marine Corps is admired far and wide around the world for the success we’ve had over the last 228 years,” said Maj. Bill Howell, an event organizer from Baldwin.

Though the event was focused on the birthday — including a cake — many of the conversations before and after the ceremony were about the continuing U.S. military presence in Iraq.

Rider said he thought the postwar military effort was going well, considering the challenges.

Maj. Bill Howell, of Baldwin, left, and Staff Sgt. Christopher Bowling, Lawrence, cut the cake at Lawrence's Marine Corps birthday celebration at the Dole Institute of Politics. About 225 people turned out Friday to honor the corps' 228th birthday and Veterans Day, which is Tuesday.

“We’re in a tough stage of the war,” he said. “We all knew the postcombat part of Iraq was going to be the most difficult part of the war. We don’t know who the enemy is. We’ve got to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.”

The keynote speaker, Col. Eugene Payne Jr., commander of the Marine Corps Reserve Support Command in Kansas City, Mo., agreed.

“It’s a mess right now,” he said. “We’re working so hard to get the Iraqi security forces in place. We’re making progress. They just can’t do it fast enough to satisfy everybody.”

Not all were pleased with the Iraqi effort. Lawrence resident Curt Bennett, a Marine during the Vietnam War, said the United States shouldn’t have started the war.

“It’s the same reasons we went to Vietnam; we fought a war based on a lie,” he said. “It’s a political war against an enemy you can’t see. The parallels are eerie. Who put us in charge of the world?”

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