Operation Sharp Edge was a

non-combatant evacuation operation A Non-combatant Evacuation Operation (NEO) is an operation conducted to Emergency evacuation, evacuate civilians from another country, generally due to a deteriorating security situation. Australia *2021 - Fall of Kabul (2021), Afghanistan Chin ...

carried out by the

22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit The 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (22nd MEU) is one of seven Marine expeditionary unit, such units currently in existence in the United States Marine Corps. It is a Marine Air Ground Task Force with a strength of about 2,200 personnel. They are ...

(22nd MEU) and

26th MEU The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (26th MEU) is one of seven such marine expeditionary units (MEUs) 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 ...

of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...

in 1990 and 1991. The MEUs were supported by Amphibious Squadron Four (Task Force 61) composed of , , , , , , and Fleet Surgical Team TWO.

Background

The

First Liberian Civil War The First Liberian Civil War was the first of Second Liberian Civil War, two civil wars within the West African nation of Liberia which lasted between 1989 and 1997. President Samuel Doe's regime of totalitarianism and widespread Political cor ...

broke out in December 1989. Increasing violence between political and ethnic factions, including in the capital of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...

, had made it impossible for American diplomats and civilians to make safe passage to the U.S. Embassy to exit the country.

Operation

The 22nd MEU was composed of Battalion Landing Team (BLT)

2nd Battalion 4th Marines 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines (2/4) is an infantry Battalion#United States Armed Forces, battalion of the United States Marine Corps. The battalion, nicknamed the ''Magnificent Bastards'' from the Vietnam War, is based out of Marine Corps Base Cam ...

(ground combat element),

HMM-261 Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (VMM-261) is a United States Marine Corps tiltrotor squadron consisting of MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft. The squadron, known as the "Raging Bulls", is based at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) New River, Nor ...

(REIN) (aviation combat element) and MSSG-22 (logistics combat element). Company "E" of the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines executed a pre-dawn

vertical envelopment Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft, such as helicopters, to seize and hold key terrain that has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind enemy l ...

of the besieged U.S. Embassy, with 237 Marines inserted via medium and heavy lift Marine Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The landing zones were under sporadic fire from light, medium and heavy weapons from belligerents. "Hotel" Company secured an extended perimeter around the U.S. Embassy and began evacuation of other allied embassies. Ground elements were supported by U.S. Marine AH-1T SuperCobra helicopters and Marine AV-8B Harrier II attack aircraft. Simultaneously, elements of BLT 2/4 secured landing zones in the surrounding areas, extracting U.S. and foreign nationals. Non-combatants were flown off to and for processing and ultimately

Freetown Freetown () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, e ...

, Sierra Leone. Although BLT 2/4 conducted the initial entry into the embassy, the Marines of BLT 3/8 with 26th MEU arrived on station and continued with the evacuation operations as the 22nd MEU began its retrograde and departure. Following the initial 20 August 1990 evacuation by the 22nd MEU and her support elements, the MEU was relieved by the Company "K" and a detachment of Headquarters and Support (H&S) personnel of the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment (designated as Battalion Landing Team 3/8), a part of the 26th MEU 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked on . Also present were Assault Craft Unit 4 Detachment B, embarked service support group elements from the MEU command element, as well as , which was used to ferry evacuees out of Monrovia. Remaining on station for the next 121 days, the Marines and sailors of ''Whidbey Island'' evacuated over 1,000 civilian personnel from Monrovia, most of whom were subsequently transported to Freetown, Sierra Leone aboard the accompanying USS ''Barnstable County''. The 26th MEU was relieved by

FAST Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

5th Platoon of the Marine Corps circa December, 1990, when ''Whidbey Island'' and her embarked troops steamed to the Mediterranean in anticipated support of the growing Operation Desert Shield. 26 MEU and 22 MEU evacuated a total of 2,439 people between the summer of 1990 and 9 January 1991.

References

Operation Sharp Edge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp Edge, Operation 1990 in Liberia Conflicts in 1990 20th-century military history of the United States Non-combat military operations involving the United States United States Marine Corps in the 20th century Liberia–United States relations Non-combatant evacuation operations