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Divisions & regiments · from 1942

3rd Marine Division

Active US Marine Corps formation.

History

The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing (1st MAW) and the 3rd Marine Logistics Group (3rd MLG) forms the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF). The division was first formed during World War II and saw four years of continuous combat in the Vietnam War. Today, elements of the 3rd Marine Division are continuously forward deployed to carry out U.S. Government missions in conjunction with its sister services.

Text from Wikipedia: 3rd Marine Division, CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

World War IIBougainville CampaignBattle of GuamBattle of Iwo JimaOperation StarliteOperation HastingsCon ThienBattle of Khe Sanh

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

  1. 1942
    The 3rd Marine Division was officially activated on 16 September 1942 at Camp Elliott, San Diego, California.
  2. 1944
    From 21 July 1944 until the last day of organized fighting on 10 August, the division fought through the jungles on the island of Guam.
  3. 1945
    All elements of the division were back on Guam by 17 April 1945.
  4. 1945
    This invasion never took place since Japan surrendered on 15 August 1945.
  5. 1952
    The division was reactivated on 7 January 1952 at Camp Pendleton, California, using the assets of the 3d Marine Brigade activated in June 1951.
  6. 1965
    On 6 May 1965, the 3rd Marine Division opened the Marine Compound at the Da Nang Air Base, Vietnam.
  7. 1965
    For extraordinary heroism in the Republic of Vietnam from 8 March 1965 to 15 September 1967, the division was awarded the Navy Presidential Unit Citation.
  8. 1967
    On 14 November 1967, the 3rd Marine Division commander Major General Bruno Hochmuth was killed northwest of Huế in a helicopter crash.
  9. 1990
    3d Marine Regiment, 3d Marine Division was one of the first combat forces to deploy to Saudi Arabia in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on 2 August 1990.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone with this unit

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More history

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