Sep 26 - Sep 28, 2024:
Marine Corps Engineer Association (MCEA)More Details
Patch
Unit Details
Strength Not Specified
Type
Engineer
Year
1940 - Present
Description
The 2d Combat Engineer Battalion was activated on 1 November 1940 in order to support 2d Marine Brigade. With existing Company A and the activation of the Headquarters and Service Company, Companies B and C were organized 6 December 1940 in San Diego, California. On 1 April 1941, the Engineers were assigned to Division Special Troops of the 2d Marine Division. On 4 November 1941, 2d Engineer Battalion was relocated to Marine Barracks, Navy Yard, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Upon Arrival, Headquarters and Service Company and Company A were assigned to Construct Camp Caitlin, Oahu.
The 2d Engineer Battalion was relocated on 13 May 1942 to Camp Elliot, San Diego. From here, Engineers from Company A embarked for Guadalcanal, and participated in the landing on that island. On 8 September 1942 2d Engineer Battalion was redesignated as First Battalion, 18th Marines. During World War II, the Engineers of 18th Marines participated in Campaigns on Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Saipan, Tinian, and Okinawa. 18th Marines was redesignated 16 August 1944 as the 2d Engineer Battalion. On 23 September 1945, 2d Engineer Battalion was redeployed to Nagasaki, Japan to begin it's duty as on Occupational Force.
The 2d Engineer Battalion relocated to Camp Lejeune, during July 1946. A major redesignation took place on 17 May 1958 with 2d Engineer Battalion becoming the 2d Pioneer Battalion, 2d Marine Division. Engineers with BLT's 1/8, 3/6, and 2/2 landed in Lebanon during the summer of 1958. The 2d Pioneer Battalion maintained a combat-ready posture during the October/November Cuban Missile Crisis while on maneuvers in the Caribbean. Another change of designation took place on 1 April 1976 when the 2d Pioneer Battalion returned to it's former designation as the 2d Engineer Battalion. During the spring of 1965, Marines from 2d Engineer Battalion landed in the Dominican Republic on a peace keeping mission. Also, training exercises in numerous European and South American Countries were supported by Marines from 2d Engineer Battalion, who participated in civic action projects. On 15 April 1976 the 2nd Engineer Battalion was designated as 2d Combat Engineer Battalion.
In the 1970's and early 1980's the Battalion furnished Combat Engineer Support to the Battalion Landing Teams (BLT) in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, 29 Palms, Norway, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. From August 1982 to February 1984 Marines from 2d Combat Engineer Battalion were part of the multinational peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon. Late in October 1983, Combat Engineers landed and occupied the island of Grenada with the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit. The Battalion continued to provide Combat Engineer Platoons to the BLT's of the 22nd and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units and support elements of the Division throughout the world. During April 1990, elements of the Battalion supported Division units attached to Marine Forces Panama and participated in Operation "Just Cause". In August 1990, Company D, while deployed aboard the USS Barstable County off the coast of West Africa participated in Operation "Sharp Edge" assisting in the evacuation of civilians from Liberia. During Operations Desert Shield/Storm the Battalion deployed in support of the 4th MEB and the 2d Marine Division leading the Division through the myriad of obstacle belts into Kuwait. Recently engineers have participated in military operations in Bosnia, Haiti, and Cuba, and most recently, participating in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Description
The 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions landed on 24 July 1944, supported by naval bombardment and artillery firing across the strait from Saipan. A successful feint for the major settlement of Tinian Town diverted defenders from the actual landing site on the north of the island. The battleship Colorado and the destroyer Norman Scott were both hit by 6-inch (150 mm) Japanese shore batteries. Colorado was hit 22 times, killing 44 men. Norman Scott was hit six times, killing the captain, Seymore Owens, and 22 of his seamen. The Japanese adopted the same stubborn resistance as on Saipan, retreating during the day and attacking at night. The gentler terrain of Tinian allowed the attackers more effective use of tanks and artillery than in the mountains of Saipan, and the island was secured in nine days of fighting. On 31 July, the surviving Japanese launched a suicide charge.
The battle saw the first use of napalm in the Pacific. Of the 120 jettisonable tanks dropped during the operation, 25 contained the napalm mixture and the remainder an oil-gasoline mixture. Of the entire number, only 14 were duds, and eight of these were set afire by subsequent strafing runs. Carried by Vought F4U Corsairs, the "fire bombs", also known as napalm bombs, burned away foliage concealing enemy installations.
Aftermath
Japanese losses were far greater than American losses. The Japanese lost 8,010. Only 313 Japanese were taken prisoner. American losses stood at 328 dead and 1,571 wounded. Several hundred Japanese troops held out in the jungles for months. The garrison on Aguijan Island off the southwest cape of Tinian, commanded by Lieutenant Kinichi Yamada, held out until the end of the war, surrendering on 4 September 1945. The last holdout on Tinian, Murata Susumu, was not captured until 1953.
After the battle, Tinian became an important base for further Allied operations in the Pacific Campaign. Camps were built for 50,000 troops. Fifteen thousand Seabees turned the island into the busiest airfield of the war, with six 7,900-foot (2,400 m) runways for attacks by B-29 Superfortress bombers on targets in the Philippines, the Ryukyu Islands and mainland Japan, including the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Four 1000-bed hospitals were planned and located in preparation for the invasion of Japan. None were actually built, as the Japanese surrendered after the atomic bombs were dropped, which thus ended the need for the hospitals.
