THIS DATE IN MARINE CORPS HISTORY

4 January 1991 - Marine helicopters evacuate 281 people from U.S. Embassy at Mogadishu, Somalia.

15 January 1865 - 365 Marines in naval landing force attack Fort Fisher at Wilmington, North Carolina.

16 January 1991 - Operation Desert Storm begins.

17 January 1944 - Elements of the 1st Tank Battalion assaults Japanese position on Arawe Peninsula, New Britain.

17 January 1944 - The 1st Marine Division begins mopping-up operations in Pohang, Korea.

17 January 1993 – Floods caused Camp Pendleton to close its gates to all but essential personnel.

19 January 1929 – Brigadier General Smedley Butler’s 3d Marine Brigade disbanded at Tiensin, China.

20 January 1968 - North Vietnamese forces attack the 26th Marines at Khe Sanh, South Vietnam.

25 January 1928 – Marines participated in Battle of El Chipote during occupation of Nicaragua.

27 January 1778 - Captain John Trevett leads twenty-six Marines in capture of Fort Nassau, Bahamas.

27 January 1837 - Colonel Henderson wins Battle of Hatchee-Lustee River against Seminoles in Florida.

29 January 1991 – First major Marine ground action of Desert Storm.

31 January 1968 - Viet Cong attacked the U.S. Embassy in Saigon and held it until repulsed by American troops.

31 January 1944 – American flag first raised over Japanese soil by B/1/25 in the Marshall Islands.

2 February 1968 – Operation Hue City, Tet Offensive began in Vietnam.

13 February 1943 - U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve formed.

15 February 1898 - 28 Marines among 250 Americans killed when the U.S.S. Maine is blown up in Havana.

19 February 1945 - 4th and 5th Marine Divisions assault Iwo Jima.

20 February 1815 - Captain Archibald Henderson leads Marines in the Constitution's victory over Cyane & Levant.

20 February 1962 - Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. orbits the earth in first manned American space capsule.

23 February 1945 - Men of the 5th Marine Division raise flag on Mount Suribachi.

24 February 1991 - 1st and 2d Marine Divisions breach Iraqi defensive positions.

28 February 1991 – Operation Desert Storm ended.

3 March 1776 - First Marine landing on hostile shores in the Bahamas.

6 March 1932 – John Philip Sousa died at age 79 in Reading, Pennsylvania.

9 March 1847 - Captain Alvin Edson leads Marine battalion ashore with Army forces at Veracruz, Mexico.

21 March 1945 – General A.A. Vandegrift, 18th Commandant became the first Marine four-star general on active duty.

25 March 1804 – Secretary of the Navy approved first formal Marine Corps uniform.

26 March 1945 - Iwo Jima secured. Marines suffer 25,851 casualties.

31 March 1801 – Site for Marine Barracks, 8th & I, Washington, DC selected.

15 April 1962 - First Marine unit (HMM-362) arrives in Mekong Delta of South Vietnam (Operation Shufly).

18 April 1864 – Marines joined sea battle as Union ships attacked Confederate ram Albemarle near New Bern, NC.

24 April 1980 - Three Marines killed in desert accident during effort to rescue American hostages in Teheran.

26 April 1863 - 250 Marines under Captain John L. Broome seize New Orleans custom house and city hall.

27 April 1805 - Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon and seven Marines lead attack against Derna, Tripoli.

2 May 1946 – Marines helped quell a prison riot at Alcatraz Island, CA.

6 May 1937 – Marines at NAS Lakehurst helped rescue Hindenburg survivors.

14 May 1917 – The first Marine detachment transferred from Annapolis to a new Marine post at Quantico, VA.

15 May 1862 - Corporal John F. Mackie aboard U.S.S. Galena is first Marine to receive the Medal of Honor.

20 May 1906 – Major John A. Lejeune embarked his battalion for duty in Panama.

22 May 1912 - First Lieutenant Alfred Cunningham becomes the first Marine aviator.

30 May 1997 - Marines help evacuate 2,500 from Kinshasa, Zaire.

31 May 1900 - Marines reach Chinese capital to defend Legation Quarter from Boxer rebellion.

1 June 1918 – “Retreat Hell! We just got here,” said the 5th Marine Regiment in France.

6 June 1917 - 5th Marine Regiment sails for France.

6 June 1918 - Marines advance into Belleau Wood against German machine guns.

8 June 1995 - Team of 40 Marines rescues Air Force pilot shot down over Bosnia-Herzegovina six days earlier.

10 June 1871 - Captain McLane Tilton leads 109 Marines in naval attack on Han River forts in Korea.

10 June 1898 - 1st Marine Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel Robert W. Huntington lands at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

12 June 1948 – President Truman authorized first women Marines in the regular Marine Corps.

18 June 1885 - Marines land in Panama to protect trans-isthmus railroad.

20 June 1951 - 1st Marine Division reaches "The Punchbowl" in Korea.

22 June 1954 – President Eisenhower authorized the use of the first official Marine Corps Seal.

23 June 1836 - Colonel-Commandant Henderson and 462 Marines report for duty in the Second Seminole War.

25 June 1971 - Last Marine ground troops depart Vietnam.

25 June 1950 – Korean War began.

30 June 1834 – Congress placed the Marine Corps under Navy jurisdiction.

1 July 1920 – Major General John A. Lejeune became 13th Commandant of the USMC.

11 July 1798 - President John Adams signs Act establishing the U.S. Marine Corps.

15 July 1958 - 2d Marines land near Beirut and seize airport at Lebanese government's request.

18 July 1918 - Marines in vast Allied counter-offensive meet Germans south of Soiccons.

21 July 1861 - Battalion of 365 Marines led by Brevet Major John G. Reynolds fights in the Battle of Bull Run.

25 July 1930 - Lieutenant Lewis Puller wins first of five Navy Crosses chasing Sandino guerrillas in Nicaragua.

27 July 1953 – Korean War ended.

28 July 1779 - Captain John Welsh and thirteen Marines killed in an assault on Fort George at Penobscot Bay, Maine.

30 July 1846 - First Lieutenant. Jacob Zeilin leads Marine detachment ashore at Santa Barbara, California.

2 August 1950 - 1st Marine Provisional Brigade lands at Pusan, South Korea.

6 August 1847 – Marines commenced their march on the “Halls of Montezuma” in Mexico.

7 August 1942 - 1st Marine Division lands on Guadalcanal.

14 August 1912 - Major Smedley D. Butler leads Marines ashore, beginning intervention in Nicaragua.

14 August 1945 – President Truman announced unconditional surrender of the Japanese.

19 August 1919 – Marines Hymn registered with the U.S. Copyright Office.

24 August 1814 - 114 Marines help defend Washington, D.C. in the Battle of Bladensburg.

25 August 1990 - 7th Marine Expeditionary Brigade begins Persian Gulf buildup.

29 August 1916 – The Marine Corps Reserve was founded.

13 September 1847 - Marines help seize fortress of Chapultepec in Mexico City.

13 September 1942 - Marines turn back Japanese attack in Battle of Edson's Ridge on Guadalcanal.

15 September 1950 – 1st Marine Division landed at Inchon, Korea and moved on to capture Seoul.

20 September 1994 - 1,900 Marines land in Haiti

28 September 1906 - Marine Brigade of 2,800 men lands at Havana.

4 October 1912 - Marines fight at Coyotepe, Nicaragua.

8 October 1899 - Marines attack Filipino insurgents at Novaleta.

17 October 1820 - Archibald Henderson appointed commandant, holds position for thirty-eight years until his death.

25 October 1983 - Marines and Army intervene in Grenada, West Indies.

27 October 1962 – 2nd Marine Division and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing deployed during the Cuban missile crisis.

31 October 1955 – Lewis B. “Chesty” Puller retired as a Lieutenant General.

1 November 1943 - 3d Marine Division lands on Bougainville.

2 November 1950 - Marines engage Chinese Communists in North Korea near the Chosin Reservoir.

5 November 1903 - Major John Lejeune lands battalion to ensure Panama's independence from Columbia.

10 November 1775 - Two Battalions of Marines were formed by an act of the Continental Congress. 

10 November 1918 - 5th Marines make night crossing of the Meuse River against German resistance.

10 November 1948 - First eight enlisted women are sworn in as Regular Marines.

10 November 1954 - Marine Corps War Memorial dedicated next to Arlington National Cemetery.

12 November 1908 - President Theodore Roosevelt removes Marines from U.S. warships.

15 November 1950 – Elements of the 1st Marine Division reached the Chosin Reservoir in North Korea.

20 November 1943 - 2d Marine Division assaults Betio Island of Tarawa Atoll in Central Pacific.

20 November 1947 – Marine reservists started Toys-for-Tots in Los Angeles.

28 November 1775 - Samuel Nicholas commissioned as Captain of Marines, becoming the first Marine officer.

7 December 1933 - Navy Department creates Fleet Marine Force.

7 December 1941 - Marines defend against Japanese "sneak-attack" on U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor.

9 December 1992 - Marines land in Somalia to rescue foreigners.

20 December 1989 - Marines are part of force that tries to capture Panama's dictator, Manuel Antonio Noriega.

24 December 1950 – Last elements of the 1st Marine Division departed Hungnam, North Korea.

26 December 1943 - 1st Marine Division lands on Cape Gloucester, New Britain.

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