2nd Battalion, 8th Marines (2/8) is an

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

battalion in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

based out of

Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States Armed Forces, United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for Amphibious warfare, amphibious assault training, and its ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

consisting of approximately 900 Marines and Sailors. Nicknamed "America's Battalion," they fall under the

8th Marine Regiment The 8th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. When last active, it was based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and fell under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and the II Marine Exped ...

and the

2nd Marine Division The 2nd Marine Division (2nd MARDIV) is a division of the United States Marine Corps, which forms the ground combat element of the II Marine Expeditionary Force (II MEF). The division is based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina ...

Subordinate units

Headquarters Company A headquarters unit is a specialised military unit formed around the headquarters of a commanding officer and the requirements of that position. As such, a headquarters unit is always a component of a larger unit. Examples include: * headquarters ...

Echo Company In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

Fox Company Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated i ...

Golf Company Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit Golf ball, balls into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standar ...

Weapons Company A weapons company, sometimes called a manoeuvre support company, is a company (military), company-sized military unit attached to an infantry battalion to support the rifle companies of the battalion. It usually possesses some combination of machine ...

Hotel Company deactivated August 1991

Mission

The mission of the Marine Corps rifle squad is to locate, close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver and/ or repel enemy assault by fire and close combat.

History

World War II

2nd Battalion, 8th Marines was activated on 1 April 1940 in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

as the 2nd Battalion 8th Marine Regiment and assigned to the 2nd Marine Brigade. The 2nd Marine Brigade was re-designated 1 February 1941 as

. During World War II, the battalion participated in the

Battle of Guadalcanal The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, an ...

Battle of Saipan The Battle of Saipan was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islands from 15 June to 9 July 1944 as part of Operation Forager. It has been referred to as the "Pacific D-Day" with th ...

Battle of Tinian The Battle of Tinian was a battle of the Pacific campaign of World War II, fought on the island of Tinian in the Mariana Islands from 24 July until 1 August 1944. The 8,000-man Japanese garrison was eliminated, and the island joined Saipan ...

and the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

. Following the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, the battalion deployed to

Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...

, Japan in September 1945 as part of the

occupation Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...

. They remained in Japan in this capacity until they redeployed back to Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in June 1946. The battalion was deactivated on 13 November 1947 as part of the post-war drawdown of forces.

1950–2000

The battalion was reactivated on 1 December 1950 at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and assigned to 2nd Marine Division. From July to September 1958 they took part in the United States intervention in during the

Lebanon crisis The 1958 Lebanon crisis (also known as the Lebanese Civil War of 1958) was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a United States military intervention. The intervention lasted for aro ...

. This was followed by a deployment to

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base Guantanamo Bay Naval Base ( es, Base Naval de la Bahía de Guantánamo), officially known as Naval Station Guantanamo Bay or NSGB, (also called GTMO, pronounced Gitmo as jargon by members of the U.S. military) is a United States military base ...

as part of the

Cuban Missile Crisis The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (of 1962) ( es, Crisis de Octubre) in Cuba, the Caribbean Crisis () in Russia, or the Missile Scare, was a 35-day (16 October – 20 November 1962) confrontation between the United S ...

from October to December 1962. * Relocated in June 1968 to Guantanamo Bay,

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. * Relocated in August 1973 to Camp Lejeune, NC. * Participated as part of Multi-Nation Peace Keeping Force in Lebanon August – September 1982, and February- October 1984 * Participated in

Operation Urgent Fury The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...

in Grenada October – November 1983. * Participated in

Operation Provide Comfort Operation Provide Comfort and Provide Comfort II were military operations initiated by the United States and other Coalition nations of the Persian Gulf War, starting in April 1991, to defend Kurdish refugees fleeing their homes in northern ...

Iraq April – July 1991. * Elements participated in

Operation Support Democracy Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

Cuba October – November 1993. * Participated in support of

Operation Joint Endeavor The Implementation Force (IFOR) was a NATO-led multinational peace enforcement force in Bosnia and Herzegovina under a one-year mandate from 20 December 1995 to 20 December 1996 under the codename ''Operation Joint Endeavour''. Background NATO ...

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

October 1996. * Elements participated in security operations

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

November 1997 – February 1998 and January – August 1999. 2/8 Echo Company was the Unit deployed to Haiti in 1993, with 3rd Platoon from Golf Company being attached to Echo Company for the duration.

Global War on Terror

Operation Iraqi Freedom {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

–

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, March – May 2003. *

Operation Enduring Freedom Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) was the official name used synonymously by the U.S. government for both the War in Afghanistan (2001–2014) and the larger-scale Global War on Terrorism. On 7 October 2001, in response to the September 11 at ...

–

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

November 2003 to May 2004. *

26th MEU The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) is one of seven such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. It is an air-ground task force with a strength of about 2,400 personnel when at full strength during a deployment. ...

–

, March 2005 – September 2005. *

–

, July 2006 – February 2007. *

–

, October 2007 – May 2008. *

–

, May 2009 – November 2009. *

–

, January 2011 – August 2011. *

–

, March 2013-October 2013

Awards

United States Navy Presidential Unit Citation ribbon

Presidential Unit Citation with 4

bronze stars The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

Joint Meritorious Unit Award The Joint Meritorious Unit Award (JMUA) is a US military award that was established on June 4, 1981, by Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and was implemented by Department of Defense Directive 1348.27 dated July 22, 1982. The Joint Meritori ...

Navy Unit Commendation The Navy Unit Commendation (NUC) is a United States Navy unit award that was established by order of the Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal on 18 December 1944. History Navy and U.S. Marine Corps commands may recommend any Navy or Marine Co ...

Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon

Meritorious Unit Commendation The Meritorious Unit Commendation (MUC; pronounced ''muck'') is a mid-level unit award of the United States Armed Forces. The U.S. Army awards units the Army MUC for exceptionally meritorious conduct in performance of outstanding achievement or s ...

Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal The Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal is a military award of the United States Marine Corps. It was established on 8 May 1919 as the ''Marine Corps Expeditionary Ribbon''. A full-sized medal was authorized on 1 March 1921. The Marine Corps Exped ...

American Defense Service Medal The American Defense Service Medal was a military award of the United States Armed Forces, established by , by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, on June 28, 1941. The medal was intended to recognize those military service members who had served ...

Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal The Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal is a United States military award of the Second World War, which was awarded to any member of the United States Armed Forces who served in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater from 1941 to 1945. The medal was created ...

with 1

silver star The Silver Star Medal (SSM) is the United States Armed Forces' third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. The Silver Star Medal is awarded primarily to members of the United States Armed Forces for gallantry in action against an e ...

World War II Victory Medal The World War II Victory Medal is a service medal of the United States military which was established by an Act of Congress on 6 July 1945 (Public Law 135, 79th Congress) and promulgated by Section V, War Department Bulletin 12, 1945. The Wor ...

Navy Occupation Service Medal The Navy Occupation Service Medal is a military award of the United States Navy which was "Awarded to commemorate the services of Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel in the occupation of certain territories of the enemies of the U.S. durin ...

National Defense Service Medal The National Defense Service Medal (NDSM) is a service award of the United States Armed Forces established by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. It is awarded to every member of the US Armed Forces who has served during any one of four sp ...

with 3 bronze stars *

Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal The Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (AFEM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces, which was first created in 1961 by Executive Order of President John Kennedy. The medal is awarded to members of the U.S. Armed Forces who, after ...

with 3 bronze stars * Southwest Asia Service Medal ribbon

Southwest Asia Service Medal The Southwest Asia Service Medal (SASM or SWASM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces which was created by order of President George H.W. Bush on March 12, 1991. The award is intended to recognize those military service members ...

with 1 bronze star *

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary ribbon

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal The Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (GWOT-EM) is a United States Armed Forces award created by George W. Bush on 12 March 2003, through Executive Order 13289. The medal recognizes those military service members who have deployed over ...

* Afghanistan Campaign Medal * Iraqi Campaign FEAST * Lt. Gen. Chesty B. Puller Outstanding Leadership Award – on 15 May 2007, the 2/8 received this award for "professional achievement and sustained superior performance in training, maintaining, equipping, fostering, nurturing and mentoring Marines and sailors as well as overall unit mission accomplishment from 1 April 2006 to 30 September 2006."

Notable former members

Ray L. Smith Ray L. Smith is a highly decorated retired United States Marine Corps major general. Smith was a combat veteran — receiving the Navy Cross for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War, as well as two Silver Stars, the Bronze Star, and t ...

, during the

Invasion of Grenada The United States invasion of Grenada began at dawn on 25 October 1983. The United States and a coalition of six Caribbean nations invaded the island nation of Grenada, north of Venezuela. Codenamed Operation Urgent Fury by the U.S. military, ...

and with the Multinational Force in Lebanon. *Jonathan T. Yale, posthumously awarded

Navy Cross The Navy Cross is the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps' second-highest military decoration awarded for sailors and marines who distinguish themselves for extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force. The medal is eq ...

during the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

when he and fellow Marine Jordan C. Haerter stood their ground, stopping a suicide

truck bomb A car bomb, bus bomb, lorry bomb, or truck bomb, also known as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED), is an improvised explosive device designed to be detonated in an automobile or other vehicles. Car bombs can be roughly divided ...

from detonating within their security station.

Notes

References

: ; Bibliography * ;Web *
2/8's official website while forward deployed in Iraq
{{2ndMarDiv

Infantry battalions of the United States Marine Corps