The 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines (3/9) is an infantry

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

of 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 ...

. Formed during World War I it served until the early 1990s when it was redesignated as

3rd Battalion, 4th Marines 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (3/4) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Nicknamed "Thundering Third". Nicknamed "Darkside," it is based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, and consist ...

(3/4) during a realignment and renumbering of the Marine Corps' infantry battalions, following the deactivation of the 9th Marine Regiment. The 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines was initially a subordinate unit of the

9th Marine Regiment The 9th Marine Regiment was an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War II, it served until 1994, when it was deactivated during the post Cold War drawdown. Battalions of the Ninth Marine Regiment, but not the ...

3rd Marine Division The 3rd Marine Division is a division of the United States Marine Corps based at Camp Courtney, Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan. It is one of three active duty infantry divisions in the Marine Corps and together with th ...

, but was later operationally transferred to the

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is the ...

as a subordinate unit of the 7th Marine Regiment where it remained until its redesignation as 3/4. 3/9 was reactivated under the 2nd Marine Division in May 2008 as the Marines expanded as a result of the continuing

War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...

Current units

The battalion comprised four

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 ...

companies, one weapons company and a headquarters and service company: * Headquarters & Service Company * India Company * Kilo Company * Lima Company * Mike Company * Weapons Company

History

On 20 November 1917, at Marine Barracks, Quantico, Virginia, the 3rd battalion 9th Marine Regiment was organized. With the end of hostilities, the need for the battalion evaporated, so the entire regiment embarked 10 April 1919 aboard USS ''Hancock'' for Philadelphia, where it arrived and unloaded 25 April. The same day, the unit officially disbanded.

World War II

3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment was reactivated on 12 February 1942, at Camp Elliot,

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 ...

, California as part of 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 ...

. The battalion was formed by a nucleus of officers and Marines from the

2nd Marine Regiment The 2nd Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps. They are based at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and fall under the command of the 2nd Marine Division and the II Marine Expeditionary Force. C ...

. In September 1942, the battalion was relocated to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton and reassigned to the

. The battalion was initially deployed to Cape Paerata, New Zealand in February 1943 and then moved to

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the seco ...

in July of that year. 3/9 participated in the following campaigns during World War Two: Bougainville, Northern Solomons,

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, and

Iwo Jima Iwo Jima (, also ), known in Japan as , is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands and lies south of the Bonin Islands. Together with other islands, they form the Ogasawara Archipelago. The highest point of Iwo Jima is Mount Suribachi at high. ...

. At Iwo Jima, 3/9 had the distinction of making the only battalion size unsupported, non-illuminated night attack against the Japanese in the

Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

. Attesting to the ferocity of combat on Iwo Jima, all 22 of the battalion's officers who landed on D-Day were killed or wounded by the end of the battle. For their service at Iwo Jima, the battalion received the Presidential Unit Citation. The battalion was disbanded on 31 October 1945.

Laotian crisis of 1962

On 19 May 1962 the

Battalion Landing Team A Marine expeditionary unit (MEU, pronounced as one syllable "" IPA: ) is the smallest air-ground task force (MAGTF) in the United States Fleet Marine Force.Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base from

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

as part of a buildup of US forces in Thailand in response to the worsening situation of the

Royal Lao Government The Royal Lao Government was the ruling authority in the Kingdom of Laos from 1947 until the communist seizure of power in December 1975 and the proclamation of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. The Franco-Lao Treaty of 1953 gave Laos full i ...

in the

Laotian Civil War The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War ...

. The Marines were then moved north to the town of

Nong Khai Nong Khai ( th, เทศบาลเมืองหนองคาย, ) is a city in northeast Thailand. It is the capital of Nong Khai province. Nong Khai city is located in Mueang Nong Khai district. Nong Khai lies on the Mekong River, near ...

where they conducted field training exercises with the Royal Thai Army and civic action with Thai civilians. On 1 July with the situation in Laos stabilizing the Marines were flown from Udorn to the Philippines and then on to Okinawa.

Vietnam War

3/9 became the first battalion-sized ground combat unit to be deployed to Vietnam when they landed on 8 March 1965 in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. Over the course of the next four and a half years, the battalion operated from

Da Nang Nang or DanangSee also Danang Dragons ( ; vi, Đà Nẵng, ) is a class-1 municipality and the fifth-largest city in Vietnam by municipal population. It lies on the coast of the East Sea of Vietnam at the mouth of the Hàn River, and is one ...

An Hoa An, AN, aN, or an may refer to: Businesses and organizations * Airlinair (IATA airline code AN) * Alleanza Nazionale, a former political party in Italy * AnimeNEXT, an annual anime convention located in New Jersey * Anime North, a Canadian an ...

and

Quảng Trị Quảng Trị () is a district-level town in Quảng Trị Province in the North Central Coast region of Vietnam. It is second of two municipalities in the province after the provincial capital Đông Hà. History The Sino-Vietnamese name Quả ...

and participated in over 40 combat operations, including

Operation Double Eagle Operation Double Eagle was a US Marine Corps and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) operation that took place in southern Quảng Ngãi Province, lasting from 28 January to 17 February 1966, during the Vietnam War. The operation was mounted ...

, Operation Buffalo and

Operation Dewey Canyon Operation Dewey Canyon was the last major offensive by the 3rd Marine Division (United States)#Vietnam War, 3rd Marine Division during the Vietnam War. It took place from 22 January through 18 March 1969 and involved a sweep of the People's Army o ...

. The battalion redeployed on 13 August 1969, after four years of continuous combat operations. Kilo and India companies were deployed to

Bien Hoa Air Base Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnamese: ''Sân bay Biên Hòa'') is a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about from Ho Chi Minh City, across the Dong Nai river in the northern ward of Tân Phon ...

to provide ground support, for Marine Aircraft Group 12 (MAG-12) in May 1972. They remained at Bien Hoa until January 1973. Kilo Co.3/9 was deployed to Bien Hoa Vietnam from Okinawa on 22 May 1972, India Co. 3/9 relieved Kilo Co. on 26 August 1972 and remained at Bien Hoa until 3 Feb 1973. The last U.S. Marine killed in action before the war ended at 08:00 on 28 January 1973 (local) was PFC Mark Miller who was killed on 26 January 1973, listed as a member of MGAG-12, he was in fact a member of India Company 3/9 on temporary assignment to MAG-12. 3/9 was the Battalion on Float at the time of Operation Frequent Wind, on

Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest p ...

, Japan doing cold weather training went the call came. They had to be flown back to Okinawa and loaded onto USS ''Denver'' and were involved with the evacuation of the VIP's and refugees until the very end.

The 1980s and 1990s

During 1986 though 1987 3/9 was commanded by LtCol

James L Jones James Logan Jones Jr. (born December 19, 1943) is a retired United States Marine Corps General (United States), four-star general and consultant who served as the 21st National Security Advisor (United States), United States National Security Ad ...

who later became the

Commandant of the Marine Corps The commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC) is normally the highest-ranking officer in the United States Marine Corps and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Joint Chiefs of Staff: composition; functions. The CMC reports directly to the secr ...

NATO Commander ''NATO Commander'' is a strategy video game designed by Sid Meier for the Atari 8-bit family and published in 1983 by MicroProse. Ports to the Apple II, and Commodore 64 were released the following year. The player takes the role of the Supreme A ...

, and the

National Security Adviser A national security advisor serves as the chief advisor to a national government on matters of security. The advisor is not usually a member of the government's cabinet but is usually a member of various military or security councils. National sec ...

. During 1986 the battalion participated in the filming of

Heartbreak Ridge ''Heartbreak Ridge'' is a 1986 American war film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred in the film. The film also co-stars Marsha Mason, Everett McGill, and Mario Van Peebles, and was released in the United States on Decembe ...

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by Oc ...

, California and Hamburger Hill while deployed to the Philippines. From March 1990 to April 1990 3/9 was deployed to Honduras, to train the Honduras Military to fight against Rebels from

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

and

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. During this time they were detached to the CIA who had a Base close to that border region. They were sent on patrols and participated when fired upon and they would defuse land mines placed around friendly villages who supported the Honduron Military. Participated in Operation Desert Shield between August 1990 and January 1991. Participated in

Operation Desert Storm 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 ...

between January 1991 and March 1991. There they participated in the

Battle of Kuwait International Airport The Battle of Kuwait International Airport occurred on February 27, 1991, during the 1st Gulf War. It was a tank battle between the United States (as part of the Coalition of the Gulf War) and Iraq. Despite being a very large battle it is oft ...

. Participated in

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF) was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational force which operated in Somalia from 5 December 1992 until 4 May 1993. A United States initiative (code-named Operation Restore Hope), U ...

between 1992 and 1993. Deactivated on 2 September 1994 and redesignated

3rd Battalion 4th Marines 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines (3/4) is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Nicknamed "Thundering Third". Nicknamed "Darkside," it is based at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, and consist ...

2000s

On 7 December 2006, Headquarters Marine Corps released a message stating that 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines would be reactivated during 2008 as part of the continuing

Global War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant I ...

. On 20 May 2008, 3/9 was reactivated at

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 ...

under the

. In July 2009, 3rd Battalion 9th Marines deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. They came home within 3 months due to troop withdrawals in Iraq. In December 2010, 3rd Battalion 9th Marines deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. While in Marjah, Helmand province the following Marines died 23 April 2011 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan: LCPL Dominic Ciaramitaro and SGT Sean Callahan. The Marines and Sailors of 3/9 successfully fought the Taliban out of an area twice the size of what the previous secure areas of Marjah had been. The Marine and Sailors of 3rd battalion, 9th Marine Regiment returned to America in early July 2011. In October 2012, 3rd Battalion 9th Marines deployed to Marjah, Helmand, Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Medal of Honor recipients

The Medal of Honor is the highest

military decoration Military awards and decorations are distinctions given as a mark of honor for military heroism, meritorious or outstanding service or achievement. DoD Manual 1348.33, 2010, Vol. 3 A decoration is often a medal consisting of a ribbon and a medal ...

awarded by the United States. It is bestowed on a member of the United States armed forces who distinguishes himself or herself "... conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States ...". The following table contains the names of the men who were recipients of the Medal of Honor while serving in 3/9. They are listed in accordance to the "Date of Action" in which the MoH citation was made.

Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines has been presented with the following awards:

Notable former members

* Joe Fulks, served in Headquarters Company during World War II *

Cody Nickson Cody Lee Nickson (born April 13, 1985) is an American reality television personality, best known for competing in '' Big Brother 19'' and winning ''The Amazing Race 30'' with his then fiancée Jessica Graf. Previously, Nickson served in the Unit ...

, served in Lima Company during OIF and STA during OEF * Steven Jacobson, served in Weapons Company during Operation Desert Storm and Operation Desert Shield

References

;Notes ;Web
Official 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines website
;Bibliography * * {{2ndMarDiv Infantry battalions of the United States Marine Corps Inactive units of the United States Marine Corps