Origins
The 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines was actived on 1 Jun 1942 at New River, NC as the
5th Training Battalion, Division Special Troops, 1st Marine Division, FMF.
On 16 Jun 1942, they were redesignated as the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, FMF.
World War II
In August-September 1942, 3/3 deployed to Tutuila, American Samoa and were reassigned to the 2nd Marine Brigade. In 1943, they were reassigned to the Fleet Marine Force. In May 1943, they redeployed to Auckland, New Zealand and in June, were reassigned to the 3rd Marine Division. In July-August 1943, they redeployed to Guadalcanal to begin training in preparation for the invasion of Bougainville. The 3/3 participated in the following World War II campaigns: Bougainville, Northern Solomons, Guam, and Iwo Jima. At Iwo Jima, 3/3 as part of 3d Marines was kept as the Expeditionary Troops reserve. However, despite numerous requests from other Marine officers, 3d Marines spent its time at Iwo Jima sitting offshore on its transport ships. On March 5, General Holland Smith, the Marine commander on Iwo Jima, ordered the 3d Marines to sail back to Guam. Back on Guam, 3d Battalion began training for a landing on Miyako Jima, an island just south of Okinawa. Those orders were eventually cancelled, but 3/3 still saw minor combat in 1945, participating in two operations on Guam designed to capture Japanese soldiers still holding out in the hills. These sweeps took place in April and December 1945. 3/3 also began preparing for Operation Olympic, where as part of V Amphibious Corps, it would have landed at Kushikino, Kagoshima on Kyushu. After the dropping of the atomic bombs in August 1945, and Japan's surrender, 3/3 was detached from the 3rd Marine Division in November 1945 and deactivated the following month on December 20, 1945.
1951-1965
3rd Battalion 3rd Marines was reactivated at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in August 1951 as part of the 3rd Marine Brigade. In February 1952, it took part in Lex-Baker-1, which was the first full-scale Marine-Navy exercise held on the West Coast since 1949. In May, Item CO participated in the ground portion of the Operation Buster-Jangle atomic bomb tests in Nevada. In August, part of the Battalion took part in an amphibious landing on Lake Washington as part of Seattle's "Sea Fair." Then in December, 3/3 took part in one of the first exercises at Twentynine Palms, CA. The entire 3rd Marine Division, including 3/3, was transported more than 280 miles by truck between Pendleton and Twenty-nine Palms. During the exercise, Third Battalion made a night airlift using over sixty helicopters. In January 1953, the unit deployed to the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station on Oahu for six months of training, after which 3/3 returned to Pendleton. In August 1953 3/3 deployed to Japan for training operations at Kin Beach, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. In 1956, 3d Battalion was on a MEU in the Indian Ocean when the Suez War broke out. Though alerted for possible action in Egypt and the surrounding region, the crisis was ultimately resolved and cooler heads prevailed. During this cruise, 3/3 visited Brunei Bay, Bombay, Karachi, and Singapore, before returning to Japan. In December 1956 the entire 3d Marine Regiment was deployed off of Indonesia because of civil strife in that country. In 1958 3/3 was alerted for possible deployment to Lebanon, but its transports were turned back in the Indian Ocean to Okinawa.
Vietnam War
In January 1965, the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California deployed for a tour on Okinawa, Japan, where they were redesignated the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines. At the time the Marines of 3/3 expected a typical 13-month deployment followed by a quick return to the states. However 3/3 found itself caught up in the initial deployment of Marine units to Vietnam, and landed on May 12 along the coast south of Danang at an airfield called Chu Lai.
3/3's first major operation in Vietnam was Operation Starlite, which was also the first major American action in the war. Starlite was an attempt by three Marine battalions -- 3/3, 2/4 and 3/7 -- to destroy the 1st VC Regiment operating in the Chu Lai area. The fighting began on August 18 and lasted three days. It ended with a Viet Cong retreat, after suffering 600 casualties, verses 52 American dead. 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines suffered 15 dead during the operation, including India Company's commanding officer, Captain Bruce Webb. Webb was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions during Starlite while Corporal Robert E. O'Malley, also in India Company, won the Medal of Honor.
3/3 did not see major action again until the fall of 1966 when it moved north to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), but continued to conduct regular combat operations against the enemy. Among the casualties suffered during this period was the battalion commander, Lt. Col Joe Muir in September, 1965. In October 1966, 3rd Battalion was deployed to combat the threat from the North Vietnamese Army in the Quang Tri province. While deployed in Quang Tri, 3/3 fought in such places as the Rockpile, Cam Lo, A-3, Gio Linh, Khe Sanh, and Con Thien. In early 1969, 3rd Battalion was sent south for about three months to participate in Operation Taylor Common, west of Danang. While 3/3 returned to the DMZ for the spring and summer of 1969, its days in Vietnam were coming to an end. The battalion began to depart on October 1 and had arrived at its new home at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii by the end of 1969.
1969-1990
Relocated during Oct-Nov 1969 to Camp Pendleton, CA, and reassigned to the 5th Marine Amphibious Brigade, FMF
Relocated during Apr 1971 to the 1st Marine Division, FMF
Deactivated 1 Jun 1974
Reactivated 1 OCT 1975 at Kaneohe Bay, HI, and assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade, FMF
Participated in numberous training exercises during the 1970's and 1980's
Elements deploy6ed to the Western Pacific at various times during the 1970's and 1980's
Participated as Afloat Support to the Multinations Peace-keeping Force, Lebanon, Sep-Oct 1983
1st Marine Brigade redesignated 30 Aug 1985 as the 1st Marine Amphibious Brigade
1st Marine Amphibious Brigade redesignated 6 Feb 1988 as the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade
Desert Shield/Desert Storm
During the early Nineties, 3rd Battalion was finishing up a deployment at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa when on August 2, at 2am, the commanding officer of the 9th Marine Regiment notified the battalion to be prepared to immediately redeploy to Saudi Arabia as a response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. No sooner had 3/3 returned to Hawaii, then it was shipped out again on August 25, as part of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade, to Al Jubayl in Saudi Arabia. As one of the first Marine battalions in country, 3/3 found itself facing the brunt of the Iraqi Army deployed along the Saudi border throughout the months of August and September. In October, 3/3 and 2/3 were designated "Task Force Taro" and moved to the extreme right flank of the Marine sector, bordering the Saudi Arabian King Abdul Aziz Brigade. Because of their close proximity, Taro was ordered by Major General James M. Myatt (Commanding General, 1st Marine Division) to begin cross-training with the Saudi forces. This cross-training continued through January, when 3/3 was moved forward to defend Al Mish'ab along the Saudi coast and became the northernmost Marine combat force in Saudi Arabia. Operation Desert Storm began on January 17, 1991, but for the first two weeks 3/3 only conducted sporadic engagements with its Iraqi counterparts across the border. That all changed on January 29, when several Iraqi units unexpectedly crossed the border and seized the Saudi town of Khafji, less than 15 kilometers north of 3/3's position. While Saudi and Qatari units ultimately retook the town, 3/3 played a vital role blocking any further Iraqi advance southward. In addition, several heavy machine guns and Forward air controllers from the battalion were shifted over to the Saudis and took place in the assault.
From February 19-21, 3/3 moved from Al Mish'ab to the forward assembly areas that it would be using to launch its attack into Kuwait. It was also during this period that 3/3 was given its assignment for the ground offensive. Lacking heavy armor or motorized transport, the battalion (along with 2/3) would infiltrate Iraqi positions along the Saudi border and provide flank security for the rest of the 1st Division to make its assault into Kuwait. As TF Taro's commander, Brigadier General John H. Admire, recalled in his history The 3d Marines in Desert Storm:
"We were encouraged by MajGen Myatt's confidence in assigning us such a critical task with minimum notice and accepted our supporting attack role with the understanding that we would have no armor, no assault amphibious vehicles, no major mechanical or explosive breaching assets. We would simply infiltrate at night on foot, with bayonets and rifles as our principal weapons."
On February 22-23, 3/3 crossed the border into Kuwait, infiltrating past Iraqi minefields, tank traps, and other obstacles. Throughout the ground war, 3/3 advanced steadily northwards, arriving outside the Kuwait International Airport around February 27. Several months later, America’s Battalion, "was able to return home with the enviable record of none killed and none wounded by enemy action in Desert Storm.”
1991-2009
Reassigned Oct 1994 to the 3rd Marine Division
Afghanistan and Iraq
In late 2004, 3rd Battalion was given its marching orders for war. On October 31, the first Marines left Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii for an eight month deployment to eastern Afghanistan. The rest of the battalion arrived throughout November. While serving in Afghanistan, 3/3 conducted Operation Spurs in February 2005, where they were inserted into the Korangal Valley and conducted both counterinsurgency and humanitarian operations. In March 3/3 launched a similar sweep called Operation Mavericks. The battalion returned on June 21, 2005.
In March 2006, 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines deployed to western Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They relieved in place the 3rd Battalion 1st Marines in the Haditha area and were based out of the Haditha dam. In October of that same year, the battalion were relieved in place by their sister battalion, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines. In July 2007, 3/3 deployed a second time to Iraq. In March 2009, 3/3 deployed for their 3rd tour in Iraq.
More 3/3 history pages are included on the links below, and the Co. sites included in our Links Pages
It is our hope that these efforts will be informative, and an educational journey into our past.
