UNITED STATES MARINE RAIDERS website

This history of the United States Marine Raiders has been compiled from the most accurate sources available to us and will be periodically updated and upgraded. The goal of this web site is the establishment of a limited United States Marine Raider search engine, by linking pages to relevant Raider information Online. The history of a small military unit can not be adequately appreciated, unless it is viewed in context of the larger effort of which it is a part. Effort will be made to relate Raider operations to such efforts.

We promise that the story of these first combat ready ground troops of World War II, the predecessor of all United States special forces, will both educate and fascinate you, with the astounding tales of their combat against the Japanese enemy.

The cooperation of Committee members: Jerome Beau, John E. Dornan, Frank Guidone, Melvin Heckt, George A. MacRae, the late Steve Zentner; USMRA Presidents John B. Sweeney, John J. Freeling and Michael B. Beeler, John McCarthy, Editor of Raider Patch; Members of the USMRA Board of Directors; Executive Director of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation Susan Hodges; David B. Crist of the Marine Corps Historical Center and many others is acknowledged

Historic Overview

Formed on Guadalcanal in September 1944, the Sixth Marine Division was composed of three infantry regiments: 4th Marines; 22nd Marines; 29th Marines; an artillery regiment: 15th Marines, and several support units.

The 4th MARINES was originally formed in 1911 and spent many years in China prior to WWII. They were known as THE CHINA MARINES. They were decimated during the early part of WW II on Bataan, but were reactivated to become part of the Sixth. They were composed of the former Raider Battalions which distinguished themselves during the early stages of the War.

The 22nd MARINES was formed on April 1, 1942. It was assigned to duty on Samoa and in February 1944, distinguished itself in the Eniwetok Campaign. It became part of the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade and participated in the invasion of Guam.

The: 1st Battalion, 29th MARINES, was blooded in the Saipan Campaign, being instrumental in the capture of Mount Topatchau. "A" Company landed on Tinian.

The artillery units of the 4th, 22nd, and 29th Marines were consolidated to form the 15th MARINES. The 6th MARINE DIVISION was in existence for only 19 months and was the only Marine division to be formed and disbanded overseas, never to see service in the United States.

It has a record of DISTINGUISHED SERVICE second to none and was awarded the coveted PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION as a result of its SUPERIOR PERFORMANCE during the Battle of Okinawa.

Who did all the dirty work ;-) ...

UNIT CITATIONS and DECORATIONS AWARDED MARINE CORPS RAIDER HEROES DURING WW II.
(2-2 p7-41)

There are 492 Raider company muster rolls, which cover the entire Raider life from 16 February 42 to 3l Januaey 44. On l February 44, the lst Marine Raider Regiment was redesignated the 4th Marines. 'There are 410 company muster rolls of the 4th Marines, Reinforced. These span the WW II period from l February 44 to the post war date of 18 February 46, when the last of the Regimental units of the WW II 4th Marines was deactivated. These muster rolls have also been searched for decorated Raiders.

There are no official consolidated Navy Department listings of decorations awarded Navy personnel during WW lI. The information of decorations awarded Navy personnel serving with the Marine Raiders was obtained from the Marine Raider and 4th Marines muster rolls, and the Raider Association Headquarters files.

The number of decorations awarded Marine Raiders and attached Navy personnel and the total nunber of Decorations awarded to all Marines during WW II are as follows:

DECORATION	RAIDERS	NAVY	TOTAL USMC
Medal of Honor	7	-	83
Navy Cross	125	13	1026
Army Distinguished Service Cross	21	-	32
Silver Star	316	33	3952
Legion of Merit	17	1	606
Navy & Marine Corps Medal	6	-	554
Soldier's Medal	3	-	29
Bronze Star	198	18	Unknown
Navy Letter of Commendation	107	8	Unknown
Army Letter of Commendationon	29	2	Unknown
Meritorious Conduct In Action Promotion	20	-	Unknown

There were 111 U.S. Naval Ships named for Marine Heroes of this total 27 ships were named for WW II Marine Corps RAIDER Heroes. Two ships were also named for Naval Medical Heroes serving with the RAIDERS.

Beau, J. J. C., The U. S. Marine Raiders of WWII: Those Who Served. American Historical Foundation, Richmond, Virginia, page 7, 1996.

Medals of the U. S. Marine Corps

More Marine Corps Medals

From another post.

Was going to try and put together a post about
the 49th anniversery of the Marine landings on Betio island
in the Tarawa Atoll which took place this tuesday last.
3000 marines were killed in three days of heavy fighting.
A toll that shook the country when it was reported.
As a marine sergeant lamented, "If the Marines could stand the dying, you'd think the public could stand to read about it."

Archer Vandegrift stated, "No one regrets the losses more than the Marine Corps itself. No one realizes more than the
Marine Corps that there is no royal road to Tokyo."
Quoting Joseph C. Grew, the nation's former ambassador to Japan, the general said," The Japanese will not crack.
They will not crack morally or psycologically or economically even when eventual defeat stares them in the face. Only by utter physical destruction or utter exhaustion of their men and materials can they be defeated.
The American people must be steeled to the realities of the
situation."

Lewis Hayward the actor was part of the combat photographic
team that went in with the Marines and footage was used to make an Oscar award winning twenty minute documentary," With the Marines at Tarawa."
After making it's rounds of the nations theaters, Robert
Sherrod the correspondent, asked Brigadier General Robert Denig, chief of Marine Corps public relations, what kind of effect the film had on the Corps itself.
"A strong one," Denig replied, "Enlistments are down Thirty
five percent."

Semper Fi Marines.

We must steel ourselves for what is coming.

Thanks for the post.

From http://www.tarawa.navy.mil/tarawa's_history.htm

The Central Pacific's Gilbert Islands were strategically important to the Allies in World War II. Tarawa, and atoll in those islands, was the scene of a major amphibious assault and on of the proudest testaments to valor in U.S. Marine Corps history.

Japan's Rear Admiral Shibasaki Meichi was quoted as saying before the assault that it would take the American forces "a million men and a hundred years" to capture the atoll. The Japanese had backed up this boast with an elite force of almost 5,000 men and heavily fortified the island of Betio in the southwestern corner of the atoll. Since capturing the islands three days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had spent two years positioning coastal defense guns, antiaircraft guns, anti-boat guns, light and heavy machine guns, and an airstrip they could use to strike at allied troops stationed in the area. The atoll was strategically vital to both sides, and the stage was set for one of the bloodiest battles in the Pacific.

The Allies were faced with serious problems in capturing Tarawa. The big coastal guns would keep the Navy guns either under constant fire or at bay, and the Japanese had used sunken ships and other pieces of metal to create obstacles which blocked the avenues of approach from the sea. The approaching craft would have to slow down to maneuver, putting them in prearranged ambush sites where they would be subject to deadly, concentrated fire from fortified positions. The next line of obstacles included a double apron of barbed wire, log barriers, and concrete obstacles which surrounded the island. After breaching these defenses, the Marines would still be faced with the beach itself, where the Japanese had fortified heavy machine guns which created a series of interlocking fields of fire in addition to antipersonnel mines and anti-vehicle mines in the fringing reefs where the boats would have to land. With the added benefit of antiaircraft guns and planes of their own, the defenders were well prepared for any assault.

The Allies had to take Tarawa, however, and on November 19, 1943 the assault began. Faced with the near-impossible odds and hounded from all sides, the Marines made it to the beach; by the last day of battle the Japanese had been forced into the east end of the the three-mile long island. They had prepared a series of fortified positions to fall back on in their retreat, and had defended each one almost to the last man. Those three miles may be some of the longest in Marine Corps history, as they slowly advanced at a terrible price. Organized resistance on Tarawa ceased by 1:30 PM on the third day.

The Battle of Tarawa took 76 hours and cost the lives of 1,020 Marines. The list of Americans wounded was listed as high as 2,296. The cost was much higher for the Japanese defenders- of the 4,386 elite troops on Betio, only 146 were left alive.

Four Marines received the Medal of Honor for their heroism, three of them posthumously. The fourth, Colonel David M. Shoup, Commanding Officer of the 2nd Marines and Betio Island Assault forces, later became the Commandant of the Marine Corps.

The "first Tarawa": USS Tarawa (CV-40)

USS Tarawa (CV-40) was one of the Navy's potent new 27,000 ton aircraft carriers and sister of the Essex, Shangri-La, and Princeton. The first Navy ship so named, Tarawa was built at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia, and launched in the Elizabeth River on May 12, 1945. In a speech delivered at the launching of the Tarawa, Marine Corps General Holland Smith, who commanded the Marines during the furious 76 hour fighting on the atoll, said ,"It is eminently fitting that this great ship should be named for an operation which marked a turning point of the war in the Pacific and began a new era of amphibious warfare."

The Marines who went ashore on November 20, 1943, carried a battle flag which was later presented to the new carrier. The flag, under which 1,020 Marines and Sailors died, was hauled down in a special ceremony on February 13, 1944, by a handpicked colorguard of men who had taken part in the assault.

Tarawa boasted improvements in design and equipment that set her apart from the other ships in her class. The vessel was 856 feet in overall length, had 100 feet in beam and a draft of 24 feet. Fully loaded, she displaced more than 34,000 tons and was able to achieve a top speed of more than 30 knots. With a crew compliment of approximately 2,500 men, Tarawa carried 80 planes and was equipped to launch and land the first Naval-developed jet-propelled aircraft.

Heavily armed, Tarawa sported twin and single mount five-inch guns, quadruple 40mm and twin 20mm antiaircraft weapons. Profiting from the lessons learned in the Pacific carrier war, the ship also had improved facilities to stow bombs and rockets.

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