2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The battalion, nicknamed the Magnificent Bastards, is based out of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California and are a part of the 5th Marine Regiment and 1st Marine Division.
2nd Battalion, 4th Marines was constituted in April 1914 during World War I when it was activated as one of the three battalions of the 4th Marine Regiment.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
LtCol Howard V Lee
Major [then Captain] Howard Vincent Lee (MCSN: 0-69961), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 8 and 9 August 1966, while serving with Company E, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, THIRD Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy forces near Cam Lo, Republic of Vietnam.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
MGen James Livingston
Captain James Everett Livingston (MCSN: 0-84449), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 2 May 1968, while serving as Commanding Officer, Company E, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, Ninth Marine Amphibious Brigade, in action against enemy forces at Dai Do, Quang Tri Province, Republic of Viet Nam.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
Col Jay Vargas
Major Jay R. Vargas (MCSN: 0-83768), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as Commanding Officer, Company G, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, Ninth Marine Amphibious Brigade, THIRD Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action against enemy forces at Dai Do, Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam, from 30 April to 2 May 1968.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
LCpl Jedh Colby Barker
Lance Corporal Jedh Colby Barker (MCSN: 2207369), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 21 September 1967, while serving as a machine gunner with Company F, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, THIRD Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action near Con Thien, Republic of Vietnam.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
LCpl Joe Calvin Paul
Lance Corporal Joe Calvin Paul (MCSN: 2033358), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 18 August 1965, while serving with Company H, Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, THIRD Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action against an armed enemy near Chu Lai, Republic of Vietnam.
Medal Honor - Vietnam -
Sgt Paul Hellstrom Foster
Sergeant Paul Hellstrom Foster (MCSN: 1903536), United States Marine Corps Reserve, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty on 14 October 1967, while serving as an artillery liaison operations chief with the Second Battalion, Fourth Marines, THIRD Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in action near Con Thien, Quang Tri Province, Republic of Vietnam.
Mail robbery in those days was really lucrative. From 1919 to 1921, about $6 million was lost to mail robbers-and back then $6 million was real money. The worst loss was at a robbery on Leonard Street in New York. Five sacks of registered mail carrying an estimated $2.4 million in cash and negotiable securities was snatched in one heist.
Lest mail robbery look too attractive for our own good, keep in mind that those were the days before the advent of electronic transfer of funds. Banks and other financial institutions routinely shipped large amounts of cash and negotiable bonds by registered mail. Mail robbery today would be far less profitable.
By the end of 1921, things had gotten so bad that Postmaster General Will H. Hays requested President Harding to direct the U.S. Marine Corps to help guard the mail. On November 7, the same day as the Paxton train robbery, the President sent the following terse letter to the U.S. Navy Secretary Edwin Denby:
My Dear Mr. Secretary:
You will detail as guards for the United States Mails a sufficient number of officers and men of the United States Marine Corps to protect the mails from depredations by robbers and bandits.
You will confer with the Postmaster General as to the details, and will issue the necessary instructions in regard to the performance of this duty.
Very truly yours,
Warren G. Harding
Within a few days, 2,200 Marines and 53 officers, taken mainly from the expeditionary forces kept alert at Quantico, Virginia, and San Diego, California, were spread throughout the country guarding the mail. They usually worked in small detachments of two or three Marines.
