"We had this sergeant who just wanted to join the color guard and he would go along to help clean the horse and paint the hooves to just go along with us," he said. "I said no way, you belong to the color guard you will learn to ride."
Rank didn't, and still doesn't today, have any sway into whether or not a Marine could be on the color guard.
"I told everybody when you come in, I don't care if you are a private first class, rank has nothing to do with it," said Lindsley, "The only thing rank had anything to do with the color guard was that the senior man would lead the color guard and carry the colors."
This is the tradition that formed the color guard, he said. It was not just officers but Marines of all ranks.
Today, the mounted color guard of MCLB Barstow remains the only one of its kind in the Marine Corps.
"What do I think of today's color guard?" said Lindsley. "I think it is the finest last mounted item in the United States Marine Corps. If they ever decide to move it, I will be very distraught because it was formed here in Barstow and should stay here in Barstow.
"I know the trials and tribulations that this color guard has gone through. We used to have to scrounge money that came out of Special Services to buy the hay for the horses. The men were all volunteers; they didn't get paid anything and went at their own expense. I give nothing but my hat's off to the original members and since then, having been acquainted with the color guard, I give nothing but two hats off to everyone that serves there now."
