1st Battalion 9th Marines

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1st Battalion 9th Marines
1/9 Insignia
Active	March 1, 1942 — September 9, 1994 October 2005 — present
Country	United States
Branch	USMC
Type	Infantry regiment
Role	Locate, close with and destroy the enemy through fire and maneuver
Part of	6th Marine Regiment 2nd Marine Division
Garrison/HQ	Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
Nickname	"The Walking Dead"
Battles/wars	World War II * Battle of Bougainville * Battle of Guam * Battle of Iwo Jima Vietnam War * Operation Deckhouse Five * Operation Dewey Canyon Operation Desert Storm Operation Iraqi Freedom
Commanders
Current commander	LtCol Bradley C. Vickers
Notable commanders	Lemuel C. Shepherd

The 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War II it served until the mid-1990s when it was deactivated to make room for one of three light armor reconnaissance battalions. In late 2005, the battalion was once again activated and attached to the 6th Marine Regiment at Camp Lejeune. Although the first full company has deployed, 1/9 is not expected to be ready for depoyment as a battalion until May 2008.

During the Vietnam War, 1/9 sustained the highest casualty rate in Marine Corps history.

1 Current Units
2 History
3 Medal of Honor recipients
4 Unit awards
5 See also
6 Notes
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Current Units

The battalion is comprised of three infantry companies and one weapons company:

Alpha Company
Bravo Company
Charlie Company
Weapons Company
Headquarters & Service Company

[edit] History

[edit] Early years

[edit] World War II

[edit] Vietnam War

The battalion endured the longest sustained combat and suffered the highest killed in action (KIA)" rate in Marine Corps history, especially during the Battle of July Two. The battalion was engaged in combat for 47 months and 7 days, from June 15, 1965 to October 19, 1966 and December 11, 1966 to July 14, 1969. 1/9 sustained casualties during its entire Vietnam service. Based on a typical battalion strength of 800 Marines and Navy hospital corpmen, 93.63% (747) were Killed In Action (KIA) and 0.25% (2) were Missing In Action (MIA).

[edit] The 1980s & 1990s

Deactivated on September 9, 1994 and redesignated 2nd Battalion 1st Marines. The battalion remained inactive from 1994 through 2004

[edit] Global War on Terror

The 1st Battalion 9th Marines was reactived in October 2005. In April 2006, after only a 30 day work-up cycle, Alpha Company deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and completed a successful six month deployment to Forward Operating Base Grizzly in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. During this time the company conducted security and stabilization operations north of Al Khalis in the Diyala Governorate, working jointly with Military Police, Cavalry and Field Artillery units from the Army National Guard. Alpha company returned in October of 2006 without the loss of any Marines.^[1]