Sep 26 - Sep 28, 2024:
Marine Corps Engineer Association (MCEA)More Details
Patch
Unit Details
Strength
Battalion
Type
Air Defense
Year
1944 - 1946
Description
The 1st and 2d Aviation Engineer Battalions were activated in May 1942 as Fleet Marine Force troops attached to IMAC. Lightly equipped, their three companies were intended to be airlifted onto islands to repair captured airfields. With no opportunities to be employed as such and the availability of Naval construction battalions for airfield rehabilitation and construction, they were provided with heavier equipment and re-designated "Separate Engineer Battalions," to differentiate them from the 1st and 2d {Divisional} Engineer Battalions, on 1 May 1944, the 1st and 2d Separate Engineer Battalions were then attached to III AC and VC, respectively. The battalions received a topographic company (Company D) in late 1944, but these were made separate companies in February 1945.
Bn Activated Deactivated
1st 1 May 1942 at New River 20 Aug 1946 Camp Pendleton
2nd 8 May 1942 Camp Elliot 6 Feb 1946 Camp Pendleton
Description
The surrender of the Empire of Japan was announced by Imperial Japan on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent. Together with the United Kingdom and China, the United States called for the unconditional surrender of the Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". While publicly stating their intent to fight on to the bitter end, Japan's leaders (the Supreme Council for the Direction of the War, also known as the "Big Six") were privately making entreaties to the still-neutral Soviet Union to mediate peace on terms more favorable to the Japanese. Meanwhile, the Soviets were preparing to attack Japanese forces in Manchuria and Korea (in addition to southern Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands) in fulfillment of promises they had secretly made to the United States and the United Kingdom at the Tehran and Yalta Conferences.