HISTORY OF THE FIRST MARINE DIVISION

The 1st Marine Division was activated aboard the battleship Texas on February 1, 1941. It is the oldest and most decorated division-sized unit in the United States Marine Corps. Division regiments were in existence as early as March 8,1911, when the 1st Marine Regiment was formed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It saw action in Haiti in 1915, in the Dominican Republic in 1916, and throughout the Caribbean during World War 1.

The Division is the direct descendant of the Advanced Base Brigade, which was activated at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 23 December 1913. During its early years, the Brigade was frequently deployed to the troubled Caribbean area to restore order and protect American interests. These combat operations included the landings at Vera Cruz, Mexico in 1914, the Dominican Republic in 1916, and counter-insurgency operations in Haiti from 1915 to 1934.

During World War I the Division was tasked with the defense of the Panama Canal and the protection of various naval installations throughout the Caribbean. It also provided a training base for Marines bound for Europe as replacements for Marine units on the Western front in France. Among the units in France were the 5th and 11th Marine Regiments. The 5th Marines participated in the notable battles St Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. During the same period the 1st and 7th Marine Regiments were deployed to Latin America to protect U. S. national interests.

Upon the Division's return to the United States from Haiti in 1934, it conducted extensive training operations in Quantico, Virginia and New River, North Carolina, later renamed Camp Lejeune. Its principal contribution was serving as the key force in developing the amphibious doctrine and techniques which were to prove instrumental to victory in World War II.

After a number of redesignations, the Division received its present designation as the 1st Marine Division on 1 February 1941, while conducting amphibious operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. This was the first Division in Marine Corps history.

Following the outbreak of World War II, the Division sailed to the Southwest Pacific. On 7 August 1942, it conducted the initial assault against the Japanese occupied islands of Guadalcanal and Tulagi. After defeating the Japanese in a six month long struggle, which cost over 3000 casualties, the Division moved to Australia for rest and reorganization.

The Division resumed combat operations in late 1943 against Japanese Forces in New Guinea and New Britain. After forcing the Japanese from these islands, the Division sailed to Peleliu in September 1944. Peleliu was characterized by some of the most vicious and bloody combat of the entire war. Over 6000 Marines and Sailors from the Division were casualties during the battle. Okinawa was the last campaign of the war. It was also the longest and most costly. The Division landed on 1 April 1945. Continuous fighting persisted until the island was secured in late June.

Three weeks after Japan surrendered, the Division was dispatched to North China for occupation duty. While in China it had a number of encounters with the Chinese Communists.

The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 was the occasion for the Division's next combat campaign. The first unit of the Division to embark for Korea was the 5th Marine Regiment which participated in the desperate fighting along the Pusan Perimeter. The remainder of the Division departed the United States in August, and reunited at sea to make the historic amphibious assault at Inchon on the West Coast of South Korea. Following the liberation of Seoul, the Division was moved to the Korean East Coast and moved deep into North Korea. Here it became heavily engaged with the Chinese Communists in the bitter fighting around the Chosin Reservoir. Despite being completely surrounded, the Division broke the encirclement and fought its way to Hungnam with all its men and equipment, destroying ten Chinese Divisions in the process. The next two and one half years saw the Division employed as a front-line unit the Communist Forces. After the fighting had ended in July 1953, the 1st Marine Division remained in defensive positions for nearly two more years.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in the fall of 1962, elements of the Division deployed to Guantanamo Bay and the waters of the Caribbean. Less thin three years later, units from the  1st Marine Division once again deployed to combat in the Far East - in the Republic of Vietnam. Regimental Landing Team 7 was the first Division unit to land in South Vietnam in May 1964. The following March, the Division headquarters displaced from Okinawa to Chu Lai and by June 1966 the entire Division was in country. Operating primarily in the northern provinces of Vietnam, the Division participated in thousands of small unit actions and over 10 named operations including Operations Starlite, Hastings, Union I and II, and Meade River. In February 1968, elements of the  1st and 5th Marine Regiments successfully led the assault to retake the city of Hue from North Vietnamese Forces. The Division redeployed to Camp Pendleton in April 1977.

On 26 August 1990, the Division deployed to Saudi Arabia in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. During Operation Desert Shield, the Division served as a deterrent force to prevent further Iraqi aggression. With the start of Operation Desert Storm on 17 January 1991, the Division conducted numerous combined arms raids against enemy forces culminating in the ground assault on 24 February 1991, to liberate Kuwait. The  1st Marine Division was the lead force in the coalition offensive that reached its objective of Kuwait City in less than 100 hours.

From 10 December 1992 to 24 March 1993, the Division deployed to Somalia. At the peak of the deployment, more than 14,000 Marines participated in humanitarian relief operations to restore stability and break the cycle of famine that had gripped that African nation. The efforts of the Marines and the U. S.-led coalition brought Somalia back from the throes of total anarchy and saved tens of thousands from death by starvation.

The 5th Marine Regiment was created at Vera Cruz, Mexico, on July 13, 1914. It served in Santo Domingo in 1925 and participated in 15 major engagements during World War 1. These include Belleau Wood, Chateau Thierry and St. Mihiel. On August 11, 1917, the 7th Marine Regiment was born at Philadelphia, Pa. It spent the duration of World War I in Cuba and was disbanded after the war. The regiment was reactivated in 194I. The 11th Marine Regiment was formed in January 1918 at Quantico, Va., as a light artillery regiment. The regiment went to France as an infantry unit, providing a machine gun company and a guard company. Decommissioned and reactivated twice between world wars, the regiment again served as infantry in Nicaragua. Reformed in 1940 as a full-fledged artillery unit, the 11th Marines joined the 1st Marine Division.

Guadalcanal was the first major American offensive of World War If. Launched on August 7, 1942, this operation won the division its first of three World War If Presidential Unit Citations (PUCs). Others won were for the battles of Peleliu and Okinawa. The Old Breed was the unit chosen to land at Inchon, Korea, September 15,1950, adding three more PUCs to its list of decorations. The first award was for the Inchon landing; the second for the division's Attack in the opposite direction fighting its way out of the Chosin Reservoir against seven Chinese Communist divisions. An estimated 37,500 Chinese casualties fell trying to stop the marines march out of the Frozen Chosin. Battles between April and September earned the Division its sixth PUC. The 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, returned to Guantanamo Bay for two months in 1962 when the Russian missile crisis arose there. More than 11,000 Marines of the 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade participated in the Naval blockade, which forced the withdrawal of the missiles from Cuba. Less than three years later, the division was again on the move. In 1965, the 7th Marines participated in Operations Starlite and Piranha, the first major engagements for American ground troops in South Vietnam. March 1966 saw the 1st Marine Division headquarters established at Chu Lai. By June, the entire division was in South Vietnam, its zone of operation the southern two provinces of I Corps, Quang Tin and Quang Ngai. Between March and October 1966 to May 1967, the Division conducted 44 named operations. Major engagements included Operations Hastings and Union I and 11. In these operations, 1st Marine Division units decisively defeated the enemy. During the 1968 Tet offensive, the division was involved in fierce fighting with both Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army elements. It was successful in beating back the enemy drive. Following six hard years of combat, the 1st Marine Division turned home to Camp Pendleton in April 1971, closing another chapter of dedicated service to Corps and country. In 1975 the Division supported the evacuation of Saigon by providing food and temporary shelter at Camp Pendleton for Vietnamese refugees as they arrived in the United States. In the early morning of 24 February 1991, the 1st Marine Division pushed into southern Kuwait and began the long-awaited allied ground offensive aimed at ending Iraq's six-and-one-half-month occupation. The division's successful breach of the first obstacle belt triggered a timed sequence of attacks by coalition forces arrayed along the entire northern border of Saudi Arabia. It was fitting that the commanding general of I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), Lieutenant General Walter E. Boomer, selected the 1st Marine Division to lead the attack. In August 1990, division units were among the first dispatched by President George Bush to assist the defense of Saudi Arabia. Until the United States Army's VII Corps began its movement towards Iraq, the division was the northernmost deployed American ground force. The Division had been continuously in the field since the beginning of Operation Desert Shield. Its units had spent the long months in the desert training and rehearsing for an anticipated ground war against the Iraqi Army and division Marines were physically, psychologically, and professionally ready.

Following the start of hostilities, the 1st Marine Division proved its capabilities in a series of artillery raids, deception operations, combined arms raids, and screening operations, that made it the first to bring the ground war to the Iraqi army. The attack followed 38 days of constant allied air attacks and the ground offensive swept everything before it in an almost bloodless campaign. It would take only 100 hours for the coalition forces to rout the Iraqi army and retake Kuwait.

Phase one of Operation Restore Hope kicked off with the early morning amphibious landing of Marines from the Camp Pendleton-based l5th Marine Expeditionary Unit in early December 1992. The successful landing and subsequent security operations illustrated the effectiveness of forward deployed forces and helped validate the Navy/Marine Corps team's strategy for the 21st century. Landing forces were met with no organized resistance and port areas were secured, while combat engineers began making repairs and upgrades to the facilities. The first elements of the 1st Marine Division, commanded by MajGen Charles E. Wilhelm from Camp Pendleton, and three Maritime Propositioning Ships from Military Sealift Command also arrived. In the second and third phases of the operation, Marines were joined by U.S. Army forces and assisted in establishing bases at Baledogle, Baidoa, Bardera, and other outlying areas identified as humanitarian relief sectors. Daily, around-the-clock patrols throughout the port city resulted in the seizure of nearly 5,000 weapons and pieces of equipment over a five-month span. Meanwhile, over 15,000 metric tons of food was successfully distributed from 38 different food sites during the operation. The final phase of the operation involved the transition from U.S. peacekeeping force to a U.N. peace keeping Force. U.S. Marine involvement in Operation Restore Hope officially ended May 4, 1"3 when operations were turned over to United Nations forces.

The 1st Marine Division is currently composed of the 1st, 5th, 7th and 11th Marine Regiments; Headquarters Battalion; the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion; the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion; 1st Tank Battalion; and the 1st and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalions. Headquarters Battalion provides command, control and administration for the 1st Marine Division. Within the battalion are a headquarters company, a service company, division headquarters, military police company, a communications company, and a truck company. The division headquarters is located in the Headquarters (11) Area, while the Headquarters Battalion and its companies are located in the Margarita (33) Area. The Senior Control and Management Platoon, the Photo Imagery Interpretation Unit and the Interrogator-Transistor Teams are all in this Battalion. The I 1st, 5th and 7th Regiments consist of one headquarters company and four infantry battalions each, one of which is deployed outside the continental United States at all times. The infantry battalions are the basic tactical units that the regiment accomplishes its mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy by fire and close combat. The 1st and 5th Regiments are located in the Horno (53) and San Mateo (62) Areas. The 7th Marine Regiment is located in Twentynine Palms, California. The 11th Marines consists of a Headquarters battery and four artillery battalions. Headquarters battery, first, and second battalions are located at the Las Pulgas area of Camp Pendleton. Fifth battalion is located at the Las Flores area of Camp Pendleton, and Third Battalion is located at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms. The 11th Marine Regiment is the primary source of fire support for the 1st Marine Division in amphibious assault, Maritime Pre-Positioning Force operations, and subsequent operations ashore, providing direct support to maneuver commanders. It employs the M198 155 millimeter towed howitzer. The 1st Combat Engineer Battalion performs many specific functions while fulfilling its mission of providing both tactical and logistical engineer support to the 1st Marine Division. These include engineer reconnaissance; temporary road repair; erection of prefabricated bridges; construction of bridges from available materials; construction of rafts and obstacles; supervision of the placement and cleaning of mine fields and fortifications; demolition; obstacle breaching from the high water mark inland; and supervision of major camouflage operations. The battalion shares the San Mateo (62) Area with the 5th Marine Regiment. The mission of the 3rd Assault Amphibian Battalion is to transport the surface assault elements of the landing force from amphibious shipping to inland objectives during the amphibious assault and to provide support to mechanized operations ashore. The amphibious assault vehicles are primarily utilized to transport personnel in tactical operations. The battalion is located in the Del Mar (21) Area.

Training is a vital and ongoing function in the 1st Marine Division. Only through an effective training program can the division remain ready to fulfill its mission at all times. The division training program is directed toward maintaining the basic skills of every Marine: preparing each Marine to achieve the performance objectives of his MOS, molding individual Marines into effective righting machines and effecting the smooth, coordinated unit interaction required to accomplish the mission of the 1st Marine Division.

Today, the Division's Marines and Sailors are deployed in key areas of the world in support of four Marine Expeditionary Units and the Unit Deployment Program.