The men of Detachment 1, 4th Supply Battalion of the 4th U.S. Marine Corps Logistics Group will lower the colors this evening at their Shorter Avenue armory for the last time.

More than six decades of Marine Corps service in Rome will end with a simple 5 p.m. ceremony that will include U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, and relatives of the post’s first commander, Col. Malcolm Thomas.

First Sgt. Shawn O’Hea said the public is invited, although, “It’s not really going to be a big ceremony.”

Johnny Davis, a former Marine Corps reservist, has seen the comings and goings of his fellow Devil Dogs since the post was first built in 1947. He said earlier reservists met at what is now the Shanklin-Attaway American Legion Post 5 next door.

“Where the armory sits, it used to be a City of Rome softball field,” Davis remembers. “It used to have a wooden fence around it.”

Davis joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1952 while he was still in high school and served until 1963. Before that, he was a member of the Reserve-sponsored Boy Scout troop that met at the post.

Click here to visit the Marines' Toys for Tots Facebook page.

He said the annual Toys for Tots program has always been an important Marine Corps project during their years based in Floyd County.

“Back in my scouting and reserve days, the toys we got were used toys and we’d have to paint them ourselves,” Davis said. “We’d have homemakers make dresses for the dolls, too.”

Medal of Honor recipient Pfc. Alford L. McLaughlin was among the many Marines who brought honor to the armory and the town, Davis said.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower awarded McLaughlin the medal for his actions in the Korean War, and Davis was one of the reservists who trained under him.

Davis said he’ll miss his comrades and the various roles they’ve played in the community over the years, from the honor guard in the Christmas parade to watching over the tomb on Myrtle Hill.

“It will be a sad day for Rome and Floyd County, myself included,” Davis said.

The closing is part of the Base Realignment and Closing program approved by Congress in 2005. The unit’s 10 active Marines and 113 reservists will be stationed at Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta.

Among the units that have been based at the armory during its 62 years in service are a howitzer artillery unit that was sent to Korea in the 1950s, a tank unit, a supply unit and an Ontos unit. The M50 Ontos was a tracked vehicle with rocket launchers, Davis said.

Marines stationed in Rome have served in Korea, Iraq and Afghanistan through the years, according to O’Hea.

Earlier this month the Rome City Commission issued a proclamation in honor of the U.S. Marine Corps detachment. O’Hea and Gunnery Sgt. Eric Lopez accepted the proclamation on Nov. 16, surrounded by members of the Marine Corps League.

Once the Marines have vacated the building, the city will take back the property.

The 2006 special purpose, local option sales tax package contains $1.6 million to convert the armory to a recreation center. Work on the project is expected to start in January.