A retired Marine lieutenant colonel from Bend will be the guest of honor at the Marine Corps Sunset Parade in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

The Sunset Parade has been a summer tradition since 1956 honoring fallen Marines at the Iwo Jima Memorial, also known as the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, near Arlington Cemetery, said 1st Lt. Colleen McFadden, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Retired Lt. Col. Jack Matthews of Bend served in the U.S. Marine Corps for about 22 years and is expected to be honored for his service in the Marines, McFadden said.

In 1984, Matthews completed seven weeks of alcohol addiction treatment at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland and has since spoken to about 500,000 Marines and sailors throughout the U.S. Matthews said he was 31 years sober in a letter published by The Bulletin in 2015 and has also spoken to student groups at military academies and other universities about alcohol addiction and recovery.

“The leadership of those institutions asked me to speak to their students because they were sick and tired of all the underage drinking, binge drinking, student drunkenness and, sadly, a significant number of alcohol-related sexual assaults on our nation’s young ladies,” he wrote in the letter. “I believe the No. 1 amenity for college students is bars and pubs. For the Marines of college age, drinking beer is considered a rite of passage, and I believe the same holds true for today’s college students.”

This summer the Sunset Parades began May 31 and will run through Aug. 16. They are free and open to the public.