User:Palm dogg/3rd Battalion 3rd Marines

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3rd Battalion 3rd Marines
3/3's Insignia
Active	June 1, 1942
Country	United States
Branch	USMC
Type	Light infantry
Role	Locate, close with and destroy the enemy with fire and maneuver
Part of	3rd Marine Regiment 3rd Marine Division
Garrison/HQ	Marine Corps Base Hawaii
Nickname	"America's Battalion"
Motto	"Fortuna Fortes Juvat" "Fortune Favors the Brave"
Battles/wars	Battle of Bougainville Battle of Guam Battle of Iwo Jima Operation Starlite Desert Storm Battle of Khafji Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Current commander	LtCol Nathan Nastase
Notable commanders	Charles Krulak

3rd Battalion 3rd Marines (3/3) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Marine Corps Base Hawaii consisting of approximately 1000 Marines and Sailors. Also known as "America's Battalion", they fall under the 3rd Marine Regiment and the 3rd Marine Division.

1 "America's Battalion"
2 History
3 Unit Images
4 Unit Awards
5 Famous 3/3 Marines
6 See also
7 Footnotes
8 Bibliography
9 External Links

[edit] "America's Battalion"

According to the Marine Corps' History and Museum Division, the name "America's Battalion" stems from the mid-Eighties when General (then Lt. Colonel) Charles Krulak was the commanding officer of 3/3. It comes from the nickname "America's Team", which was used by the Dallas Cowboys.

[Krulak] noted that while commanding the battalion, he did in fact dub 3/3 as "America's Battalion." He modified the phrase which was given to the Dallas Cowboys as "America's Team." Although not a Cowboy's fan, he liked the terminology. General Krulak said that a previous S-3 (Operations Officer) had sent him a letter when General Krulak was Commanding Officer of 3d Battalion 3d Marines. The S-3 Officer was on deployment in the Mediterranean, and had written nothing on the envelope but the following: "Commanding Officer, America's Battalion". General Krulak said that even in the absence of a stamp and a proper address he still received the letter, and, in his opinion, if the U.S. Postal Service recognized 3/3 as "America's Battalion," then they certainly must be. So from then on he considered it "official."^[1]

[edit] History

The 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines was actived on 1 June 1942 at New River, North Carolina as the 5th Training Battalion, Division Special Troops, 1st Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force. On 16 June 1942, they were redesignated as the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, Fleet Marine Force.

[edit] World War II

Pvt Skaggs receiving his Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman.

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. In March 1945, they redeployed to Guam in preparation for Operation Olympic. 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 20 December 1945.

On the left (north) flank of the beachhead, the 3d Battalion, 3d Marines, and the 9th Marines landed against opposition not quite so formidable as that offered by the Japanese, but of a nature to make the landing difficult by any means. Here the beach was steep; so much so that landing boats could not beach along the length of keel. Here jungle grew to the water's edge, and surf was extremely rough: These natural obstacles combined with lack of experience on the part of coxswains caused many landing boats to broach to in the surf.

Meanwhile the 2d and 3d Battalions, 3d Marines, had begun an advance inland through the swamps.

The line of advance of the 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, was generally to the north to enable it to maintain contact with the Raiders on the right; for this purpose Company A, 3d Marines, was attached to the 2d Battalion from 6 to 11 November. General route of the 3d Battalion was north, then east along the perimeter of the Division beachhead; the 3d Battalion was assigned the mission of locating the route of a lateral road from right to left flank.44

^[2]

3/3, along with the rest of Third Marines, landed on Bougainville on November 1 and left two months later on Christmas Day, 1943.

[edit] 1951-1965

The 3/3 was reactivated in August 1951.

[edit] Vietnam War

Mike Company, 1966.

A Medevac while operating along the DMZ, 1968.

3/3's command group at Vandegrift Combat Base, 1969.

In January 1965 the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines at Camp Pendleton, California deployed for a tour on Okinawa, 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.^[3] 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 DMZ, but continued to conduct regular combat operations against enemy insurgents. Among the casualties suffered during this period was the battalion commander, Lt. Col Joe Muir. In October 1966, Third 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, Third Battalion was sent south for several months to participate in Operation Taylor Common, west of Danang. While 3/3 returned to the DMZ for the summer of 1969, its days in Vietnam were coming to an end. The battalion began to depart on October 1 and had returned to the states by the end of 1969.^[4]

No Shining Armor: The Marines at War in Vietnam: An Oral History

[edit] 1969-1990

[edit] Desert Shield/Desert Storm

According to Major Craig Huddleston, who was Executive Officer of 3/3 during the early Nineties, 3rd Battalion was finishing up a deployment at Kadena Air Force Base on Okinawa when on August 2, at 2am, the commanding officer of the 9th Marines notified the battalion to be prepared to immediately redeploy to Saudi Arabia as a response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8]

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."^[9]

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.^[10] 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.”^[11]

[edit] 1991-2004

Marines from 3/3 training in Camp Fuji, Japan, 1996

[edit] Global War on Terror

Patrolling in Methar Lam, Afghanistan in 2005.

In late 2004, 3rd Battalion was given its marching orders for war.^[12] On October 31, the first Marines left Kaneohe Bay, HI 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.^[13]

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.

[edit] Unit Images

RIMPAC 2004

Patrolling in Afghanistan, 2005

Patrolling the streets of Barwanah, 2006

Taking cover in Haditha, 2006

[edit] Unit Awards

Award	Year(s)	Additional Info
Presidential Unit Citation with one Bronze Star	1944, 1965-1967	Battle of Guam, Vietnam War
Navy Unit Commendation with three Bronze Stars	1943, 1965, 1968-1969, 1990-1991	Battle of Bougainville, Vietnam War, Desert Storm
Navy Unit Commendation with two Bronze Stars	1967-1968, 1968, 1983	Vietnam War, Lebanon
Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four Bronze Stars	1943, 1944, 1945	Battle of Bougainville, Northern Solomons, Battle of Guam, Battle of Iwo Jima
World War II Victory Medal	1942-1945
National Defense Service Medal with three Bronze Stars
Korean Service Medal
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Vietnam Service Medal with two Silver Stars
Southwest Asia Service Medal with two Bronze Stars
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm Streamer
Afghanistan Campaign Medal	2004, 2005
Iraq Campaign Medal	2006	Haditha, Al Anbar Province

[edit] Famous 3/3 Marines

	Coker, Ronald. Medal of Honor, Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, 24 March 1969.
	Krulak, Charles. 31st Commandant of the Marine Corps from July 1, 1995 to June 30, 1999. Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines (1983-1985).
	O'Malley, Robert. Medal of Honor, Near An Cu'ong 2, South Vietnam, 18 August 1965.
	North, Oliver. Key figure in the Iran-Contra Scandal. Commentator on FOX News. 2nd Lieutenant in 3/3 in 1968.
	Prom, William. Medal of Honor. Near An Hoa, Republic of Vietnam. 9 February 1969.
	Ripley, John. Hero of the Bridge at Dong Ha during the 1972 Easter Offensive. Commanding Officer, Lima Company, 1967.
	Skaggs, Luther, Jr.. Medal of Honor. Asan-Adelup beachhead, Guam, Marianas Islands, 21 -22 July 1944.