They come to the Marine Corps to continue a family tradition, having been raised on stories told by their Marine Corps fathers, grandfathers, or great-grandfathers. Or they come after learning about the historic exploits of the Marines in books, magazines, or even movies. Some even come after viewing USMC television advertisements, always noting that unlike those of other services, Marine Corps recruit commercials don’t offer free education, civilian job training, or money to entice enlistment; Marine Corps advertisements offer nothing but the opportunity to call oneself a United States Marine. The bus doors slam open and a drill instructor climbs aboard, and lives begin anew.
Throughout its history, the Marine Corps has waxed and waned in numbers of battalions, wartime necessity and peacetime contraction pushing and pulling its head count through the years. The Second World War saw the greatest number of Marine Corps battalions, the newly minted units having played pivotal roles in the Pacific Theater victory. And while many of those battalions raised for the war effort would see their end come just months after the armistice—as most of the Marines brought in during the war returned to civilian life—a few would continue to defend American interests long after the 2 September 1945 Japanese surrender. The Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was one such battalion.
Initially activated on 1 May 1942 as the Third Training Battalion at New River, North Carolina, outbound recruits from MCRD Parris Island quickly bolstered the unit to fighting strength, and on 17 June 1942, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was officially born. Marines of ⅔ would enter combat for the first time on 1 November 1943 as some of the first troops ashore for the opening phase of the Bougainville Campaign, an effort on and around the South Pacific Ocean’s Bougainville Island, an operation that would last through August of 1945. The Marines of ⅔ fought continuously for a month on Bougainville, hacking through tangled, dripping jungle as they charged after Imperial Japanese soldiers. They then moved to Guadalcanal to train for an assault on Guam, a battle that they would remember as their most significant contribution to America’s World War II victory.
Temporarily decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was reactivated in 1951 to bolster troop strength in support of the Korean conflict, but the battalion wouldn’t see action until Vietnam, when in April of 1965, Marines of ⅔ roared into the fight against the North Vietnamese during operations in the Da Nang region. The battalion’s grunts rotated through tours in the Southeast Asian conflict until the autumn of 1969, having overrun the NVA in a number of fierce engagements, including the infamous Hills Fights, where, with Marines of 3/3, they seized the tactically vital Hill 861. After finishing operations in the A Shau Valley and Khe Sanh region in October of 1969, ⅔’s grunts would leave Vietnam—and the battalion wouldn’t put rounds downrange at an enemy again for more than thirty-five years.
The Island Warriors —⅔’s nickname referencing the location of their home station (since the early summer of 1971) of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay—would enter an active combat zone again as a battalion during their deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI, about four and a half years after the initial 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Led at the time by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew MacMannis, the Marines of ⅔ learned in 2004 that they would journey to the eastern Afghan provinces of Laghman, Nangarhar, and Kunar in the late spring of 2005 and continue the fight that their sister battalion—the Third Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment—would be waging from the fall of 2004 until ⅔’s arrival seven months later. The battalion, composed of seasoned war fighters
Throughout its history, the Marine Corps has waxed and waned in numbers of battalions, wartime necessity and peacetime contraction pushing and pulling its head count through the years. The Second World War saw the greatest number of Marine Corps battalions, the newly minted units having played pivotal roles in the Pacific Theater victory. And while many of those battalions raised for the war effort would see their end come just months after the armistice—as most of the Marines brought in during the war returned to civilian life—a few would continue to defend American interests long after the 2 September 1945 Japanese surrender. The Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was one such battalion.
Initially activated on 1 May 1942 as the Third Training Battalion at New River, North Carolina, outbound recruits from MCRD Parris Island quickly bolstered the unit to fighting strength, and on 17 June 1942, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was officially born. Marines of ⅔ would enter combat for the first time on 1 November 1943 as some of the first troops ashore for the opening phase of the Bougainville Campaign, an effort on and around the South Pacific Ocean’s Bougainville Island, an operation that would last through August of 1945. The Marines of ⅔ fought continuously for a month on Bougainville, hacking through tangled, dripping jungle as they charged after Imperial Japanese soldiers. They then moved to Guadalcanal to train for an assault on Guam, a battle that they would remember as their most significant contribution to America’s World War II victory.
Temporarily decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, the Second Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment was reactivated in 1951 to bolster troop strength in support of the Korean conflict, but the battalion wouldn’t see action until Vietnam, when in April of 1965, Marines of ⅔ roared into the fight against the North Vietnamese during operations in the Da Nang region. The battalion’s grunts rotated through tours in the Southeast Asian conflict until the autumn of 1969, having overrun the NVA in a number of fierce engagements, including the infamous Hills Fights, where, with Marines of 3/3, they seized the tactically vital Hill 861. After finishing operations in the A Shau Valley and Khe Sanh region in October of 1969, ⅔’s grunts would leave Vietnam—and the battalion wouldn’t put rounds downrange at an enemy again for more than thirty-five years.
The Island Warriors —⅔’s nickname referencing the location of their home station (since the early summer of 1971) of Marine Corps Base Hawaii at Oahu’s Kaneohe Bay—would enter an active combat zone again as a battalion during their deployment in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI, about four and a half years after the initial 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Led at the time by Lieutenant Colonel Andrew MacMannis, the Marines of ⅔ learned in 2004 that they would journey to the eastern Afghan provinces of Laghman, Nangarhar, and Kunar in the late spring of 2005 and continue the fight that their sister battalion—the Third Battalion of the Third Marine Regiment—would be waging from the fall of 2004 until ⅔’s arrival seven months later. The battalion, composed of seasoned war fighters
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