Sgt Grit Marine Forums

1 January 1804: The tradition of the Marine Band serenading the Commandant was established.
1 January 1944: Lieutenant General (later General) Alexander Vandegrift made Commandant of Marine Corps.

2 January 1777: Marines participated in the 2nd Battle of Trenton.
2 January 1944: U.S. Army made surprise landing at Saidor, began drive up New Guinea coast. *
2 January 1960: Marine Corps Air Facility, Futenma, Okinawa was commissioned under Colonel L. S. Reeve.

*  They had to learn from Somebody....   i.e. The MARINES.

3 January 1777: Battle of Princeton.
3 January 1945: VMF-124 and VMF-213 from the USS Essex struck Formosa and the Ryukyu Islands in the first Marine land strike off a carrier

4 January 1861: 40 Marines left Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. to garrison Ft. Washington.
4 January 1928: Marines participated in the Battle of Quilali during the occupation of Nicaragua.
4 January 1991: Marines evacuated 260 U.S. and foreign citizens from the American Embassy, Mogadishu, Somalia, during Operation Eastern Exit.

5 January 1904: A Marine detachment landed to protect Legation at Seoul, Korea.
5 January 1944: The 5th and 7th Marine Regiments overran the 53rd Japanese infantry, New Britain.
5 January 1944: 1st and 2nd Raider Regiments disbanded.

6 January 1859: BGen Archibald Henderson died in office after serving 39 years as the 5th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
6 January 1967: Operation Song Than/Deckhouse V began on MeKong Delta - RVN.

8 January 1815: Marines, with Andrew Jackson's help, repulsed British forces at New Orleans.

9 January 1847: Marines participated in the Battle of La Mesa (California) during the Mexican War.
9 January 1945: Luzon in Northern Philippines invaded.

10 January 1861: Captain Josiah Watson and 38 Marines surrendered with Navy Yard, Pensacola during the Civil War.
10 January 1927: 2nd Bn 5th Marines landed in Nicaragua.
10 January 1995: The Pentagon announced that 2,600 U.S. Marines would be deployed to Somalia for Operation United Shield to assist in the final withdrawal of UN peacekeeping troops from Somalia. The decision came in response to a UN request for American protection of its peacekeeping forces serving in the war-torn African nation.

12 January 1967: General H. M. (Howling Mad) Smith, "Father of Amphibious Warfare," died.
12 January 1991: The 5th MEB embarked and arrived in the North Arabian Sea in support of Desert Shield.

13 January 1862: Marines landed and burned Confederate stores at Cedar Keys, Florida.
13 January 1943: The 2ndMarDiv launched a westward coastal attack at Guadalcanal.

15 January 1942: Brigadier General H. R. Larsen 1st military Governor American Samoa.
15January 1943: Captain Joe Foss bagged three Japanese planes for a record total of 26 kills.

16 January 1958: 3rd Anti-Tank Bn activated Camp Hansen, Okinawa.
16 January 1991: Marines participated in the offensive air action against Iraq as Operation Desert Storm began. Operation Desert Shield became Operation Desert Storm as forces of the allied coalition launched an all-out air campaign against targets in Iraq and occupied Kuwait in an effort to liberate Kuwait and enforce the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council. Overall, in the theater of operations, the coalition forces included more than 415,000 U.S. troops

17 January 1944: Company B, 1st Tank Battalion spearheaded the assault against Japanese positions on Arawe Peninsula, New Britain.
17 January 1945: Russians captured Warsaw.
17 January 1951: 1stMarDiv began mop-up at Pohang, Korea.
17 January 1993: Floods caused Camp Pendleton to close its gates to all but essential personnel.

19 January 1840: Detachment with the Wilkes Expedition reached Antarctica.
19 January 1929: BGen Smedley Butler's 3rd Marine Brigade was disbanded at Tientsin, China.

20 January 1942: Thomas Holcomb, 1st Lieutenant General in Corps history.
20 January 1968: The second battle for Khe Sanh began when Marines from the 3d Battalion, 26th Marines attacked a North Vietnamese battalion between Hill 881 South and Hill 881 North. More than 100 of the enemy were killed.

21 January 1918: The 1st Aeronautical Company arrived at Ponta Delgada, Azores, for anti-submarine duty. That unit was one of the first completely equipped American aviation units to serve overseas in World War I.

22 January 1925: 2nd Expeditionary Force organized at Cavite, Philippine Islands, for duty at Shanghai, China to protect American lives.
22 January 1969: Operation Dewey Canyon, perhaps the most successful high-mobility regimental-size action of the Vietnam War, began in the A Shau/Da Krong Valleys when the 9th Marines, commanded by Colonel Robert H. Barrow, and supporting artillery were lifted from Quang Tri. By 18 March the enemy's base area had been cleared out, 1617 enemy dead had been counted, and more than 500 tons of weapons and ammunition unearthed.

23 January 1780: Marines participated in the capture of a British brig by the USS Providence and USS Ranger off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
23 January 1909: 1st Provisional Regiment returned from duty in Cuba.
23 January 1942: Japanese invaded New Britain, New Ireland, the Solomons.
23 January 1943: Australian-U.S. counterattack recaptured Buna-Sanananda from Japanese.
23 January 1943: Tripoli fell to Allies.

24 January 1874: Detachments formed for Battalion-size exercises off Key West, Florida.
24 January 1942: U.S. Naval force battered Japanese troop convoy in Battle of Makassar Strait.
24 January 1968: The 26th Marine Regiment held the Khe Sanh Combat Base