Marine Corps History
from the month of
December


Dec 1

1947 – The Marine Corps’ first helicopter squadron, HMX-1 was commissioned at Quantico, VA.
1950 – The 1st Marine Division began its bitter withdrawal from Yudamni, North Korea.
Staff Sergeant William G Windrich received the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously for
actions as a Platoon Sergeant with I/3/5, in action against enemy aggressor forces in the vicinity of Yudam-ni, Korea.

Dec 2

1942 – Carlson’s Raiders neared the end of an epic 26 day patrol on Guadalcanal
1950 – Sergeant James E Johnson received the MEDAL OF HONOR for actions as a Squad Leader in
a Provisional Rifle Platoon composed of Artillery men and attached to J/3/7, in action at Yudam-ni, Korea,

Dec 3

1944 – Marine air assets of the 1st and 2nd Marine Aircraft Wings arrived in the Philippines to support the Army forces.
1990 – The Marine Corps was granted a new call-up ceiling of 23,000 reservists when Defense Secretary
Richard Cheney gave the military departments authority to call-up 63,000 additional members of the National Guard and Reserves in support of Operation Desert Shield. Added to authority already granted, this action raised the number of Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps selected reservists to 188,000 who could be on active duty at the same time.

Dec 4

1895 – Marines in Tientsin, China were awarded the Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal for the period 4
December 1894 – 1 May 1895.
1950 – Lt Colonel Raymond G. Davis received the MEDAL OF HONOR for leading his battalion into
Hagaru-Ri, Korea.
1983 – Marines at BIA come under heavy fire from gun positions in Syrian-held territory. Marine casualties:
8 KIA; 2 WIA. Naval gunfire missions fired in retaliation. Earlier in the day, a 28-plane raid was conducted on Syrian anti-aircraft positions in the mountains east of Beirut, in retaliation for Syrian fire directed at American aerial reconnaissance missions. Two U.S. aircraft are downed, in this first combat mission over Lebanon.
2001 – Elements of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) landed in Afghanistan to reinforce the 15th
MEU at Camp Rhino located south of Kandahar. Marines from the 26th MEU’s Combined Anti-Armor Team (CAAT) and Light Armored Reconnaissance (LAR) bring with them valuable weaponry and combat vehicles.

Dec 5

1929 – Marine Captain A.N. Parker was the first person to fly over the unexplored Antarctica.

Dec 6

1846 – Marines participated in the Battle of San Pasqual.
1928 – Marines participated in the Battle of Cuje during the occupation of Nicaragua.  A small detail of
Marines under Captain Maurice G. Holmes defeated Nicaraguan bandits near Chuyelite. Gunnery
Sergeant Charles Williams was mortally wounded during the fighting.  Capt Holmes received the Navy Cross and Gunnery Sergeant Williams received a Silver Star posthumously.


Dec 7

1933 – Navy Department creates Fleet Marine Force.
1941 – The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor left more than 3000 Marines and Sailors killed in action.
Midway Island shelled
1st Lieutenant George Ham Cannon was the first Marine of WWII to be awarded the MEDAL    OF HONOR.
2001 – Marines from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable), carrying out
Operation Swift Freedom, were involved in combat while blocking the roads leading away from the Taliban-controlled city of Kandahar. A firefight erupted when the first vehicle of a seven-vehicle convoy attempted to run the roadblock, was restrained by concertina wire, and the passengers fired upon the Marines who approached the vehicle. The rest of the convoy headed in another direction and air support was called in to destroy the targets. The Marines suffered no casualties, while enemy casualty estimates varied between fifty and 150.

Dec 8

1941 – The Japanese attacked American garrisons at Wake Island, Guam and the Philippines.  Japanese
aircraft attacked Wake Island within hours of the fateful attack on Pearl Harbor. Marines of the 1st  Defense Battalion and Marine Fighting Squadron 211 resisted Japanese invasion attempts for over two weeks before finally succumbing to an overwhelming force.
Captain Henry T Elrod received the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously for actions with VMF-211 at Wake Island
1968 – Staff Sergeant Karl G Taylor received the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously for actions as
Company Gunnery Sergeant during Operation “Meade River”.
2001 – TF-58 Marines secured the American Embassy at Kabul, Afghanistan.

Dec 9

1968 – The 1st, 5th, 7th, and 26th Marine Regiments participated in Operation Meade River, Vietnam.
1992 – Marines of Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines landed at Mogadishu, Somalia to begin
Operation Restore Hope.  The 15th MEU, RCT-7 and Provisional MAG-16 also served the operation.

Dec 10

1941 – With no weapons larger than a 30 caliber machine gun, 153 Marines defended Guam until finally
overwhelmed.
1995 – In Bosnia, 22 Marines from Marine Corps Security Force Company, Naples, Italy were among the
first American troops to arrive.  They provided the security for Allied Forces Southern Europe headquartered at Sarajevo.  About 2,500 NATO troops would be in place by 19 December taking on the task of peace enforcement in former Yugoslavia from the U.N.
2001 – CIA agent Mike Spann, the first American killed in action in Afghanistan, was buried in Arlington
National Cemetery. Spann served as an artillery captain in the Marine Corps until two years ago, when he decided to join the CIA’s Special Activities Division, where he served as a paramilitary officer. President Bush, at the family’s request, signed a waiver to allow Spann interment at Arlington National Cemetery. Spann was buried with full military honors, carried out by Marines from the Marine Barracks, Washington.
2003 – Marine Sergeant Christopher Chandler, who lost his left leg below the knee after stepping on a land
mine in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 16 December 2001, jumped into the history books as the first service member retained on active duty with a prosthetic limb to graduate from the U.S. Army Basic Airborne Course. Sergeant Chandler not only graduated the challenging jump school but was also selected as the class' noncommissioned officer honor graduate.

Dec 11

1941 – VMF-211 Wildcats sank the Japanese destroyer Kisaragi during the defense of Wake Island.

Dec 12

1944 – Marines participated in the Luzon Operation in the Philippines during WWII.
2001 – Task Force 58 commanded by Brigadier General James Mattis rolled through Kandahar, Afghanistan
and secured the city’s airport.

Dec 13

1967 – BLT 3/26 was ordered to reinforce Khe Sanh, Vietnam.
2002 – Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island renamed the recruit depot headquarters building in honor
of the 27th Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Robert H. Barrow. The retired general was on hand for the dedication ceremony; an unusual occurrence since most Marine Corps Commemorative namings honor deceased servicemen and women.  Gen Barrow served 41 years in the Corps, including combat tours in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and was the first commandant to be a full-fledged member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
2003 – American soldiers captured former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein after discovering him hidden
away in the dark of a tiny, underground burrow near his hometown of Tikrit, Iraq. His identity was confirmed through DNA testing.

Dec 14

1941 – Wake Island defenders were left with one aircraft surviving Japanese attacks.
2001 – 26th MEU secured the Kandahar International Airport, Afghanistan.

Dec 15

1948 – The Secretary of the Navy signed a "Memorandum of Agreement" with the State Department which    laid the basis for the modern Marine Security Guard program at U.S. embassies throughout the world.
1968 – The 3rd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment commenced search and destroy Operation “Citrus”.
1983 – The battleship USS New Jersey delivers 16-inch gunfire on anti-aircraft positions in the Syrian    occupied mountains southeast of Beirut, as the Syrians continue to fire at U.S. reconnaissance flights    over the area. This was the USS New Jersey's first action off Lebanon.
2002 – The Marine Corps took over the training of troops from the former Soviet republic of Georgia from    the Army Special Forces units after the graduation of the first class. The Marine-led joint training    team of about 60 troops picked up the next class that began February 2003. The Georgia Train and    Equip Program commenced in May under Special Operations Command, Europe.

Dec 16

1946 – Fleet Marine Force, Atlantic was activated under CinCLant.
1991 – Nearly 300 members of the 8th Marines arrived in Guantanamo Bay to participate in Haitian    humanitarian efforts for 6,000 refugees.
2001 – A Marine lost his foot and two more were wounded when a previously undetected land mine was    detonated.  While on patrol at the Kandahar airport, Cpl Chris Chandler stepped on a plastic anti    personnel mine, which had eluded a previous sweep with a metal detector.

Dec 17

1941 – 17 SB 2U-3’s of Marine Scout Bomber Squadron 281 flew 1,137 miles, the longest massed flight        over water.
2001 – The Marines of Task Force 58 raised an American flag over the Kandahar International Airport,    Afghanistan. That same flag was flying over at World Trade Center in New York City on September    11, 2001.

Dec 18

1903 – Marines escorted American diplomats to Addis Ababa, Abyssinia.
1965 – 1st Lieutenant Harvey C Barnum Jr received the MEDAL OF HONOR for actions as forward    observer for H/2/9 near Ky Phu in Quang Tin Province, Republic of Vietnam.
1990 – Rollout ceremonies for the Corps’ new M1A1 tank were held at the General Dynamics Land Systems
Division in Warren, Michigan. The M1A1 “common tank” is outfitted to Marine Corps specifications with such features as ship tiedowns, a deep water fording capability, and position locating and reporting system capability. The tank would replace the aging M60A1. The 2d Tank Battalion based at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, would use the new tank in the Persian Gulf while other tank battalions would operate the M60A1s

Dec 19

1944 – MAG-12 Corsairs blew up a Japanese supply dump at Palompon, Leyte.
1972 – The Marine detachment of the USS Ticonderoga provided shipboard security for three US astronauts,
Eugene Cernan, Ronald Evans, Harrison Schmitt, and their Apollo-17 space capsule. The astronauts had successfully completed a (then) record lunar stay of more than 75 hours.

Dec 20

1965 – Operation Harvest Moon ended for Task Force Delta (2/7, 3/3 and 2/1).  More than 400 Viet Cong
were killed in action.
1967 – Corporal Larry D Smedley received the MEDAL OF HONOR posthumously for actions as a    squad leader with D/1/7.
1989 – The 2nd Marine Division began combat operation as part of Task Force Semper Fidelis in Panama
against General Manuel Noriega’s forces.
1989 – Operation Just Cause was launched in Panama to protect American lives, restore the democratic
process, preserve the integrity of the Panama Canal Treaty, and apprehend Dictator General Manuel Antonio Noriega.  One Marine, Corporal Garreth C. Isaak, was killed and three other were wounded during the operation.

Dec 21

1967 – Special Landing Force B received the RVN Gallantry Cross for actions 21 – 24 December 1967.

Dec 22

1942 – VMF-121 and VMO-251 pilots downed seven Zeros over Munda.

Dec 23

1817 – Marines in a joint Army-Navy operation forced the surrender of Amelia Island.
1941 – The Japanese landed at and captured Wake Island.  Japanese forces launched a predawn landing on
Wake Island and Wilkes Island, while their carriers launched air strikes against Wilkes, Wake, and Peale islands in support of the landing force.  After nearly 12 hours of desperate fighting, the three islands were surrendered.
2002 – The Marine Corps formed a new 86-man commando unit. The Marine Corps Special Operations
Command Detachment has no official nickname as of yet and consists of volunteers. It has a 22-man headquarters, 30 reconnaissance Marines, 28 intelligence specialists, and a 6-person team to provide firepower. The unit will begin training in June 2003 and be ready for deployments by April 2004.

Dec 24

1950 – The last Elements of the 1st Marine Division departed Hungnam, North Korea.


Dec 25 - Each year on Christmas, Marines guard our national security all over the world.

1881 – Corporal John Morris received the MEDAL OF HONOR for actions aboard the US Flagship Lancaster, at Villefranche, France.

Dec 26

1776 – Marines participated in the 2nd Battle of Trenton (NJ) as part of General George Washington’s forces.
1943 – The 1st marine Division landed in an assault of Cape Gloucester, New Britain.
1957 – Twenty helicopters from Marine Light Helicopter Squadron 162, were rushed to Ceylon onboard the
USS PRINCETON where Marines participated in the rescue and evacuation of flood victims.

Dec 27

1903 – Major General George F Elliot, 10th Commandant of the Marine Corps departed Washington DC to
command Marines in Panama.
2002 – Nearly 700 Marines with the 2nd Force Service Support Group (2nd FSSG) deployed from Camp
Lejeune to provide real-world operational logistics for Operation Enduring Freedom. Their ultimate destination was not disclosed but it was indicated the unit was headed for the Middle East or the Mediterranean Sea region.

Dec 28

1901 – Major L.W.T. Waller’s ill-fated “March across Samar” began.

Dec 29

1966 – The 11th Motor Transport Battalion received the RVN Gallantry Cross for service Dec 66 – Sept 69.

Dec 30

1927 – Marines participated in the Battle of Camino Real (Nicaragua).

Dec 31

1930 – Eight Marines were killed and two escaped when surrounded at Ocotal, Nicaragua.
1964 – Colonel Donald G Cook received the MEDAL OF HONOR for actions as a POW from 31
December 1964 to 8 December 1967.