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thedrifter
09-14-04, 08:39 AM
Issue Date: September 13, 2004

The lore of the Corps: 4th Marines made swift, indelible mark

By Robert F. Dorr
Special to the Times


A proud Marine outfit celebrated an anniversary on Aug. 16 when the 4th Marine Division turned 61 years old. The division was created during the Corps’ buildup to World War II; it was activated, as Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee put it, “in the midst of a world in conflict.”
When the unit was activated in August 1943, it became the first Marine division to proceed directly into combat from the United States without staging at an intermediate location. Leathernecks with the division carried out four major amphibious landings in just 13 months, starting with Roi-Namur in the Kwajalein Atoll of the Marshall Islands on Feb. 1, 1944.

The 4th Marine Division was one of the units that landed on Saipan in the Mariana Islands on June 15, 1944.

The 25-day Saipan battle is remembered today as one of the most difficult of the war. The 4th Marine Division sustained 5,981 casualties, amounting to just over 27 percent of the division’s strength, according to a Web site maintained by the 4th Marine Division Association, www.fightingfourth.com/saipan.htm.

The division assaulted the island of Tinian, just three miles from Saipan, on June 24, 1944. The Tinian battle, which came immediately after 30 days on Saipan, was “the bloodiest thing I’ve ever seen,” said former Cpl. Alva R. “Al” Perry, 79, of Clearwater, Fla., who carried a Browning Automatic Rifle during all four of the division’s island campaigns.

Of 258 men who began the war in Perry’s rifle company, only seven who came back alive were not wounded, he said.

Although the division was deactivated in November 1945, its flag was raised again when the Pentagon made it the headquarters for ground-force Marine Reserve units in the United States. The reincarnation of the division took place in 1966 at Camp Pendleton, Calif.

Leathernecks with the 4th Marine Division pulled reserve duty throughout much of the Vietnam and Cold War eras and also in Iraq.

In the 1990s and into the 21st century, training and exercises included “training in desert, jungle, mountain, urban and cold weather environments,” division spokesman Capt. Pat Kerr said. “They also maintain the ability to conduct heliborne and amphibious assaults as well as security support.”

Commanded today by Maj. Gen. John J. McCarthy, the 4th Marine Division is “the largest ground combat element in the Marine Corps and [comprises] approximately 20,500 Marines across 37 states,” its history states.

The war on terrorism has added new missions for the 4th Marine Division, which has contributed Marines to operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

Robert F. Dorr, an Air Force veteran, lives in Oakton, Va. He is the author of numerous books on Air Force topics, including “Air Force One.” His e-mail address is robert.f.dorr@cox.net.

http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/story.php?f=1-MARINEPAPER-327515.php


Ellie