Sgt Grit Marine Forums

1 March 1960: The Beaufort (South Carolina) Auxiliary Air Station was re-designated a Marine Corps Air Station.

2 March 1776: Raid on New Providence, Bahamas.
2 March 1867: Jacob Zeilin, Colonel Commandant of the Marine Corps from 30 June 1864, was this date promoted to the rank of Brigadier General Commandant, the first time Congress authorized this rank for the Marine Corps. The statute, however, was repealed in June 1874 so that the rank of Commandant would again revert to colonel upon Zeilin's retirement.

3 March 1809: Five-year enlistments in the Corps replaced the previous three-year terms.
3 March 1871: Navy Medical Corps established.
3 March 1931: Star Spangled Banner made U. S. National Anthem.
3 March 2002: Marine helicopter pilots, crews and support personnel from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) provide the quick reaction force and muscle required to conduct deliberate air assaults on enemy mortar positions and hide-sites in Khowst and eastern Afghanistan’s Shah-e-Kot Valley near Gardez, Afghanistan.

4 March 1801: The Marine Band performed at a Presidential Inauguration for the first time. 

6 March 1932: Marine Band leader John Philip Sousa died at age 79 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
6 March 1944: Marines assault Talasea on New Britain (secured 8 March 1944).
6 March 1965: Beginning of Vietnam Defense Campaign.

7 March 1951: The 1st, 7th, and 11th Marine Regiments commenced operations against enemy forces at Hongchon, Korea.

Meanwhile, in Europe during World War II ...
7 March 1945: U.S. troops took Remagen Bridge and crossed the Rhine.

8 March 1942: Japan invaded New Guinea (Lae, Salamaua, Finschhafen).

8 March 1944: Japanese launched counteroffensive on Bougainville, smashed by Marines 24 March.

8 March 1965: The 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed at DaNang, Republic of Vietnam as the first U.S. ground combat troops to be committed to that conflict. The 3,500 men arrived both across the beach with Battalion Landing Team 3/9, and at DaNang Airfield with Battalion Landing Team 1/3.

9 March 1782: Marines served with General Clark.

9 March 1847: Expeditionary Marines landed and seized Vera Cruz, Mexico, during the Mexican War.

9 March 1942: Java fell to Japan concluding Netherlands Indies Campaign.

10 March 1783: Marines in fighting tops of the USS Alliance helped defeat HMS Sibyll.

Other news from World War II:

10 March 1945: Mindanao in Southern Philippines invaded.

11 March 1778: Marines participated the action when the Continental Navy frigate BOSTON, enroute to France, sighted, engaged, and captured the British merchant ship MARTHA. As the drum of the BOSTON beat to arms, John Adams seized a musket and joined the Marines on deck until the frigate's captain, Samuel Tucker, sent him below for safety.

11 March 1853: Marines from the USS Cyane landed at San Juan del Norte, Nicaragua.

12 March 1824: Marines of the Boston Barracks quelled a Massachusettes State Prison riot.

13 March 1911: Atlantic Landing Force of 688 Marines landed at Guantanamo Bay.

13 March 1943: The first group of 71 Women Marine officer candidates arrived at the U.S. Midshipmen School (Women's Reserve) at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. The Navy's willingness to share training facilities enabled the Marine Corps to begin training Marine Corps Women's Reserve officers just one month after the creation of the MCWR was announced.

13 March 1945: The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 9th Marine Regiment attacked through "Cushman's Pocket," Iwo Jima. This was the last strongpoint of enemy resistance on the island

14 March 1905: The first Marine military attaché was appointed to Legation at Peking, China.

15 March 1944: Marine medium bombers struck Japanese positions at Rabaul.

16 March 1922: Marines guarded the U.S. mail during a national crime wave.

16 March 1945: Iwo Jima secured.

17 March 1918: The 5th Marine Regiment was the first Marine unit to move into WW I front-line trenches.
17 March 1967: The first woman Marine to report to Vietnam for duty, Master Sergeant Barbara J. Dulinsky, began her 18-hour flight to Bien Hoa, 30 miles north of Saigon. MSgt Dulinsky and the other officer and enlisted Women Marines that followed were assigned to the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) based in Saigon. Most worked with the Marine Corps Personnel Section providing administrative support to Marines assigned as far north as the DMZ, but two Lieutenant Colonels, Ruth Reinholz and Ruth O'Holleran, served as historians with the Military History Branch, Secretary Joint Staff, MACV.

18 March 1945: MAG-14 flew air support for U.S. Army landings at Panay, Philippines.

19 March 1928: Marine planes bombed a bandit group at Nueve Segovia, Nicaragua. This was the first use of close air support.
19 March 2003: The war against Iraq begins 20 March 2003 5:30 AM Baghdad time (9:30 PM EST, March 19), when the U.S. launches Operation Iraqi Freedom.

20 March 1943: Marine "Avengers" conducted the first aerial mine-laying mission.

20 March 1944: Marines seized Emirau Island in Bismarck Archipelago.

21 March 2003: Marines from the 15th MEU, attached to 3 Commando Brigade and the Polish Special Forces unit GROM, crossed the border into Southern Iraq and secured the ports of Umm Qasr and Az Zubayr.

21 March 2003: First KIA by hostile fire in Iraq was U.S. Marine 2nd Lieutenant Therrel Shane Childers, 1st Bat. 5th Marine Reg., 1st Mar. Div. Lieutenant Childers was from Harrison Co., Mississippi.

22 March 1952:  Six new Marine battalions and Marine air groups were activated on the West Coast, giving the Corps the full authorized limit of three divisions and three wings.

23 March 1815: Marines assisted the USS Hornet's capture of the HMS Penguin off Tristan de Cunha.

24 March 1944: The 22nd Marine Regiment captured Ebon and Namu Atolls in the Marshall Islands.

25 March 1804: The Secretary of the Navy approved the first formal uniform of the Marine Corps.

25 March 1863: Marines with Farragut's squadron engaged Confederates at the Battle of Vicksburg in Mississippi.

25 March 1945: After 35 days of bitter fighting, the amphibious assault on the rocky fortress of Iwo Jima finally appeared over. On the night of 25 March, however, a 300-man Japanese force launched a vicious final counterattack in the vicinity of Airfield Number 2. Army pilots, Seabees and Marines of the 5th Pioneer Battalion and 28th Marines fought the fanatical Japanese force till morning but suffered heavy casualties --more than l00 killed and another 200 American wounded. Nearly all of the Japanese force was killed in the battle.