Second Battalion Seventh Marines is garrisoned on board the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center at 29 Palms, CA. 2d Battalion, 7th Marines activated 01 January 1941 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as the 2d battalion, 7th Marines and was assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade, Fleet Marine Force. It was reassigned during February 1941 to the 1st Marine Division, and relocated during April 1941 to Paris Island, South Carolina, and relocated during September 1941 to New River, North Carolina. The Battalion was attached during March 1942 to the 3rd Marine Brigade, and deployed during April 1942 to Samoa. It was detached during August 1942 from the 3rd Marine Brigade and reassigned to the 1st Marine Division. It participated in the following World War II campaigns: Guadalcanal; Eastern New Guinea; New Britain; Peleliu; and Okinawa. It participated in the occupation of North China, September 1945 - January 1947. The unit relocated during January 1947 to Camp Pendleton, and deactivated 26 February 1947.
The Battalion was reactivated 17 August 1950 at Camp Pendleton, California, and assigned to the 1st Marine Division. It deployed during September 1950 to the Republic of Korea and participated in the Korean War from September 1950 through July 1953, operating from Inchon-Seoul, Chosin Reservoir, East Central Front, and Western Front. It participated in the defense of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, July 1953 - March 1955, and relocated during March 1955 to Camp Pendleton.
It deployed during June 1965 to Camp Schwab, Okinawa, and participated in the War in Vietnam, July 1965 - October 1970, operating from Qui Nhon, Chu Lai, Dai Nang, Dai Loc and An Hoa.
The Battalion relocated during October 1970 to Camp Pendleton, and was reassigned to the 5th Marine Amphibious Brigade. Reassigned during April 1971 to the 1st Marine Division, it participated in the battalion rotation between the 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa and divisions stationed in the United States during the 1980s. It relocated during January 1990 to Twenty-nine Palms, California, and participated in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Southwest Asia, August 1990 - March 1991, and relocated during March 1991 to Twenty-nine Palms, California.
The battalion continued to participate in the rotation between 3rd Marine Division on Okinawa and divisions stationed in the United States from March 1991 - June 2005. From July 2005 - January 2006 and January 2007 - August 2007, the battalion was assigned to Regimental Combat Team 6 and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom, operating around the Fallujah area. Upon returning to Twenty-Nine Palms, California the battalion started predeployment workup for another tour. In April 2008, the battalion deployed to Afghanistan to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom.
From April 2008 to November 2008 the Battalion deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom 08 and was assigned to Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan, and later to the Special Purpose MAGTF - Afghanistan. Operating from locations in Northern Helmand and Eastern Farah Provinces, the Battalion engaged in heavy fighting with insurgent forces while conducting full-spectrum COIN with a focus on development of the Afghan National Police.
The Battalion deployed to Okinawa, Japan in support of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) from January to July of 2010. During this deployment the Battalion participated in Operation Cobra Gold 2010 and Operation Balikatan 2010 in the countries of Thailand and Republic of the Philippines. The Battalion again deployed to Okinawa, Japan in support of the 31st MEU from June to December of 2011. During this deployment the Battalion participated in Talisman Saber 2011 and PHIBLEX 2011 in the countries of Australia and Republic of the Philippines.
Notable Persons
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
PFC Oscar Palmer Austin
Private First Class Oscar Palmer Austin (MCSN: 2472757), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 23 February 1969, while serving as an assistant machine gunner with Company E, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in connection with operations against enemy forces west of DaNang, Republic of Vietnam.
Description
MacArthur planned an amphibious landing at Inch' on, a port of the Yellow Sea 25 miles west of Seoul, to be followed by an advance to recapture the city and block North Korean troop movements and supply routes there. Concurrently the Eighth Army was to break out of the Pusan Perimeter and move northward, driving the North Koreans into the Inch'on landing forces which would be driving south. Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond, commander of the newly activated X Corps, was to be in command of the invasion troops.
Early on 15 September a Marine battalion of the let Marine Division (which had loaded in Japan for the Inch'on Landing), covered by strong air strikes and naval gunfire, quickly captured Wolmi Island, just offshore from Inch'on. By afternoon, Marine assault waves rode the high tide into the port itself (UN Offensive-16 September to 2 November 1950). The remainder of the 1st Marine Division disembarked and pressed toward Kimpo Airfield, the Han River, and Seoul. The 7th Infantry Division came ashore; some elements turned southeastward toward Suwon, south of Seoul, while the remainder of the division joined the Marines in the advance toward Seoul. Kimpo Airfield was captured by the 18th, and put in use by the cargo-carrying planes of the Far East Air Forces to augment the stream of supplies being landed by the Navy at Inch'on. The 187th RCT was flown into Kimpo Airfield to strengthen U.N. defenses in that area. After heavy fighting between advancing U.N. forces and the determined North Korean forces, which had resolved to fight for Seoul street by street, MacArthur announced on 26 September that the city was again in friendly hands; but fighting continued there for several days. On 29 September MacArthur returned Seoul to President Rhee in a ceremony held in the blackened capitol building.
The Eighth Army began its offensive northward on 16 September. The ROK I and II Corps were in position on the north side of the perimeter. The U.S. I Corps, composed to the 1st Cavalry Division, the 27th British Commonwealth Brigade, the 24th Division, and the 1st ROK Division, was on the Taegu front. The remainder of the Eighth Army, positioned along the Naktong, included the U.S. 2d and 25th Divisions and attached ROK units. Progress was limited at first, but as the portent of the converging attacks became clear to the North Koreans, they fled north with heavy losses in men and materiel. Elements of the 7th Division (X Corps) and the 1st Cavalry Division (Eighth Army) made contact late on 26 September just south of Suwon, thus effecting a juncture of U.N. forces. Organized enemy resistance continued in the Eighth Army sector until the last days of September. Although large numbers of enemy troops escaped through the eastern mountains, more than 100,000 prisoners were captured during this period; by 30 September the North Korean Army had ceased to exist as an organized force below the 38th parallel. However, remnants of the army, fighting as guerrillas, continued to pose a considerable threat to the security of the U.N. forces.
During the latter part of September the Eighth Army was reinforced by a battalion each of Philippine and Australian troops. Early in October the U.S. 3d Division arrived in the Far East.
Meanwhile Walker's ROK I Corps crossed the 38th parallel on 1 October 1950 and advanced up the east coast, capturing Wonsan, North Korea's major seaport, on 10 October. The R0K II Corps also crossed the parallel and advanced northward through central Korea. In the west, Walker's remaining forces relieved the X Corps in the Seoul area and crossed the parallel on 9 October toward P'yongyang. By mid-October the U.N. forces had penetrated about 20 miles into North Korean territory.
In the second half of October 1950 the advance quickened as enemy resistance weakened and thousands of enemy troops surrendered. U.N. objectives were the destruction of the remaining Communist divisions and the capture of important North Korean cities. ROK troops spread through central and east Korea. Some turned north toward the industrial area centering around Hamhung and Hungnam, others west along the Wonsan-P'yongyang road. In the west the 1st Cavalry Division, after fighting through pill box defenses at Kumch'on, a few miles north of the parallel, progressed up the Seoul-P'yongyang railroad. The 24th Division drove to the south bank of the Taedong River in the vicinity of Chinnamp'o, the port for P'yongyang. The 1st Cavalry and 1st ROK Divisions entered P'yongyang on 19 October and secured the city in the next forty-eight hours. On 20 October the 187th Airborne RCT, complete with vehicles and howitzers, dropped on Sukch'on and Sunch'on, about 30 miles above the city of P'yongyang, to trap North Koreans fleeing northward. In northwest Korea a ROK regiment, leading the advance of the Eighth Army, entered the town of Ch'osan on 26 October, thereby becoming the first U.N. element to reach the Yalu River. Farther south additional U.N. forces crossed the Ch'ongch'on River at Sinanju and pushed toward the Manchurian border. For all practical purposes the North Korean Army had dissolved by the last week in October, and had melted away in the mountains adjacent to Manchuria and the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile Almond's X Corps had been withdrawn from combat and prepared for amphibious landings on the east coast of Korea. Since the rapid advance of ROK ground units and the fall of Wonsan made a combat landing there unnecessary, the 1st Marine Division carried out an administrative landing at Wonsan on 26 October, despite the heavily mined harbor which caused a long delay in unloading. On 29 October the 7th Division landed unopposed at Iwon, 80 miles farther north.
General Almond, adding the ROK I Corps to his command, set out to capture the industrial and communications areas, the port installations, and the power and irrigation plants of northeastern Korea. The ROK I Corps moved up the coastline toward Ch'ongjin, 120 miles north of Iwon. The 1st Marine Division moved 50 miles north of Hamhung and its port of Hungnam, then turned inland toward the Changjin (Chosin) Reservoir, 45 miles to the northwest. Elements of the 7th Division attacked northwestward toward the Pujon Reservoir and the Yalu River.
