Arizona Marine License Plates Honor the Past, Invest in Our Future

Every time Elisabeth Wisthoff looks at the license plate of her husband’s Toyota Tacoma, it reminds her of where they met, the life they’ve shared and the children they’ve raised.

Dana Wisthoff’s truck sports a personalized Arizona U.S. Marine Corps license plate that reads, “E5 MSG.”
A veteran of the United States Marine Corps, “E5” reflects Mr. Wisthoff’s rank of Sergeant when he first met Elisabeth. “MSG” refers to his role as part of the Marine Security Guard detachment assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal, where Elisabeth’s father served as a senior foreign-service officer, according to a press release.

“I was in college when I first met Dana … and the rest is history,” said Mrs. Wisthoff in a prepared statement. “That license plate reflects our story.”

All veterans build strong ties with their service branches; the Arizona U.S. Marine Corps license plate uniquely celebrates that bond and invests in the future.

How? For every U.S. Marine Corps plate sold in Arizona, $17 of the $25 fee goes directly to the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides college/university/trade-school scholarships to the children of Marines, Navy corpsmen, Navy chaplains or Religious Programs specialists attached to a Marine unit.

Getting a plate is easy. There are no restrictions and you do not have to have served in the military.
Anyone in Arizona registering a car or motorcycle can get the charity plate.

Dana and Elisabeth know well the power of the license plate program: Their daughter, Victoria and son, Alexander each received Foundation scholarships while attending University of Arizona undergraduate programs, from which they both graduated with honors.

Currently, Victoria is studying for the bar exam with her sights set on becoming a prosecutor while Alexander works in corporate banking.

They are two of roughly 40,000 students nationwide who have received Foundation scholarships since 1962. This includes hundreds of Arizona students who benefit from U.S. Marine Corps license plate sales.

Since the program’s inception in 2015, almost 23,000 plates have been sold, generating hundreds of scholarships for our very own Arizona students to universities, colleges and technical schools.

Elisabeth was so impressed with the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation and its impact on her family that she joined the Arizona committee that hosts an annual fundraising gala in Phoenix.

“I really appreciate the Foundation because it’s simply about patriotism; its motto, ‘Honoring Marines by Educating Their Children’ is one that everyone can support without reservation,” she said.

The Arizona U.S. Marine Corps license plate does the same — it pays tribute to the Marine Corps parent and supports the next generation raised on the Corps’ values of Honor, Courage and Commitment.

To learn more about the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation or to apply for a scholarship, visit mcsf.org.
To order an Arizona U.S. Marine Corps license plate, visit www.servicearizona.com and click on the personalized/specialized plates link.