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The Marine Corps is most often associated with the storming of the beaches of Normandy and the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue. However, from island-hopping to Force Redesign 2030, Marines dominate the Pacific in the past, present, and future.
WW2
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese launched an attack on American soil, prompting the United States to enter the second world war. At this time, the Marines of the Pacific were a small expeditionary force with outdated equipment faced against a seemingly stronger enemy. Marines took part in what is now called an “island-hopping” campaign, where they took part in battles including the Battle of the Midway and Battle of Okinawa in order to instill American military bases on strategic islands. Most famously was the Battle of Iwo Jima.
After months of naval and air bombardment, Marines invaded the island of Iwo Jima, a small volcanic island between Japan and the Marianas Trench on February 19th, 1945. What decision-makers expected to be a swift victory turned into a 5 week struggle and one of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. Japanese soldiers had to be targeted in vicious close-quarters assaults. An estimated 70,000 American Marines and 18,000 Japanese soldiers took part in the battle. Nearly 7,000 Marines, a whopping 10% of those involved were killed. Another 20,000 were wounded. 216 were taken as prisoners of war. However, the island was finally secured on March 26th, 1945. The capture of Iwo Jima laid the groundwork for the eventual invasion of Okinawa, making it a turning point in the battle for the Pacific theater.
Korean War
When the North Korean People’s Army, armed with Soviet weaponry invaded Republic Korea in 1950, Marines answered the call. President Harry S. Truman ordered naval blockade off the coast of Korea, and General Douglas MacArthur approved ground troops in the region. On July 7th, the First Provisional Marine Brigade was activated and sent to Pusan, Korea. Upon landing in Inchon, Marines drove out the North Koreans with a five-day surprise amphibious assault. They then proceeded to fight against a Chinese communist uprising. The Korean war resulted in 28,000 Marine casualties, and the awarding of 42 Medals of Honor, 221 Navy Crosses, and 1,500 Silver Stars. During the Korean War, the Marine Corps also grew from 75,000 strong to a fighting force of over 261,000 Marines.
Vietnam War
On March 8th,1965, the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade waded ashore at My Khe beach, near Da Nang, South Vietnam. The first U.S. ground troops in the region, they entered one of the longest and costliest conflicts in Marine Corps history. Up to 1971, Marine combat units were stationed in South Vietnam. Some Marines would stay in the nation until the spring of 1975 while providing advice to the South Vietnamese Marine Corps or protecting the U.S. Embassy. The Vietnam War is longer than the U.S. military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan as measured by the duration of Marines' advisory service, which began in 1954. Marines fought in the jungle against North Vietnamese Guerillas or “Vietcong”-- a violently formidable opponent. There was heavy usage of chemical warfare, including Agent Orange. Many surviving Vietnam veterans are still suffering health consequences from this. At the peak of the war in 1968, there were 81,249 Marines in Vietnam.
Force Design 2030
Following the official culmination of the War on Terror, the Marine Corps has a plan to modernize and restructure their strategy. Focused on the Indo-Pacific region rather than the Middle East, this plan ensures that the Corps will remain steps ahead of adversaries using drones, long-range missiles, and cyberattacks. The success in this re-design has been demonstrated in exercises such as BALIKATAN, an annual bi-lateral exercise between America and the Philippines. As adversaries evolve, the Marine Corps will remain a present stabilizing force in the Pacific.
