Paramarines

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Paramarine in training at NAS Lakehurst in 1942

The Paramarines (also known as Marine paratroopers) was a short-lived specialized unit of the United States Marine Corps, trained to be dropped by parachute. The first Paramarines were trained in October 1940, but the unit was disbanded in 1944.

The first cohort of Marines paratroopers trained at NAS Lakehurst in New Jersey in October 1940, followed by a second group in December 1940, forming the 2nd Marine Parachute Battalion. A third class trained at Camp Kearney in Santee near San Diego in early 1941, eventually forming the 3rd Marine Parachute Battalion. After the US joined the Second World War, the training program was stepped up, and a special training camp was opened temporarily at Camp Elliot in May 1942, next to Camp Kearney, moving to purpose-built accommodation nearby at Camp Gillespie in September 1942. A second training camp opened at Hadnot Point on the New River in North Carolina in June 1942, but closed in July 1943.

Paramarines received a significantly increased salary after completing their training, so there was no shortage of volunteers, although all were required to be unmarried. Standards of fitness were high, and 40% failed the course. The unit ended up as a regiment-sized unit, the 1st Marine Parachute Regiment, with around 3,000 men in three battalions, in I Marine Amphibious Corps. However, the need for a parachute corps in the Marines was questioned, as was its cost. The Marine Corps also lacked the transport aircraft required for a massed parachute drop. The Commandant ordered 1st Marine Parachute Regiment to be disbanded on December 30, 1943, and it officially ceased to exist on February 29, 1944.

Apart from a small group who were parachuted into France as part of an Office of Strategic Services team to support the French Resistance, the Paramarines were never dropped by parachute into combat, but were utilized during beach raids in the Pacific campaign, including at Guadalcanal. The men at San Diego were transferred to the 5th Marine Division, and landed at Iwo Jima. Two, Corporals Harlon H. Block and Ira H. Hayes, famously assisted in the raising of the US flag on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, depicted in Joe Rosenthal's iconic photograph, and a third, Sergeant Henry O. "Hank" Hansen, was involved in the first flag-raising earlier that day. Five of the 81 Marines to receive the Medal of Honor in World War II were Paramarines; all were honored for their actions on Iwo Jima.

The Marine Corps still trains parachutist Marines. Once a Marine has completed Airborne School with the sister services, they are authorized to wear the coveted "Jump Wings" on their camouflage utilities while in garrison. Marines who earn Jump Wings often do so as part of their MOS/billet training, as Marine Recon, EOD, Air deployment, or as part of a reenlistment incentive.

[edit] Paramarines in fiction

Though never actually used as such in reality, the Paramarines were mentioned in the 1965 John Wayne movie In Harm's Way. In the movie, a Paramarine airborne assault on a fictional Pacific island sets up the climactic battle at the end.