The 4th Marine Regiment consists of one headquarters company and two infantry battalions. The infantry battalions are the basic tactical units that the regiment accomplishes its mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy by fire and close combat. These two battalions are drawn from the 1st Marine Division under the Unit Deployment Program, and are stationed at Camp Schwab on Okinawa. Two other 1st Marine Division are deployed on a rotational basis with the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit at Camp Hansen.
The 4th Marine Regiment was first activated in April 1914 as part of the Marine Corps' Advances Base Force. The regiment was deployed to the Dominican Republic the following year for a peacekeeping duty that lasted ten years. The 4th Marines were reassigned to San Diego in 1924. Two years later, the regiment was assigned to mail guard duty in the western United States. In early 1927, it sailed for Shanghai. Their principal mission: to protect American lives and property. Despite periodic outbreaks of internal disorder, most of the 4th Marines' 14-year tour in China was a relatively peaceful garrison duty. In late 1941, war loomed in the Far East. On November 28, the era of the China Marines ended, as the last of the regiment set sail for the Philippines.
They arrived on December 1 and were assigned to protect the naval station at Olongapo and nearby Mariveles. Seven days later, Japanese troops landed in Luzon and the 4th Marines were placed under U.S. Army control and subsequently assigned to defend the island fortress of Corregidor, which guards the entrance to Manila Bay. Over the next four months, the 4th Marines grew from a two-battalion regiment to one of five battalions, in the process becoming one of the oldest units in Marine Corps history. As defensive positions fell and units disintegrated, stragglers from the U.S. Army and Navy, as well as small Filipino units were assigned to it. Resistance on the Bataan Peninsula ended on April 9. This permitted Japanese artillery to concentrate on Corregidor. Landing craft began moving toward the island the evening of May 5. At noon the next day, Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commander of U.S. Forces in the Philippines, surrendered. The 4th Marines burned their colors and -- temporarily -- ceased to exist.
The regiment was reborn in February 1944, when it was reconstituted in Guadalcanal from units of the 1st Marine Raider Regiment. The new 4th Marine Regiment seized Emirau Island in the Central Pacific. Then, as a part the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, it took part in the recapture of Guam. The brigade soon became the 6th Marine Division and with its other regiments, the 4th Marines landed on Okinawa on April 1, 1945. Following the Japanese surrender, the 4th Marines were detached and ordered to occupy the Japanese naval base at Yokusoko. Subsequently, as a part of the post-World War II drawdown, the regiment was inactivated.
In 1951, the 4th Marine Regiment was reactivated at Camp Pendleton, California. It sailed for Japan the following year with the rest of the 3rd Marine Division. When the division was reassigned to Okinawa in 1955, the 4th Marines moved to Kaneohe, Hawaii, where they stayed until the division was committed to Vietnam in 1965.
In 1972, the regiment took up residence on Okinawa, its current home base. In 1990-91, the 4th Marines took part in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as part of the III Marine Amphibious Force. Since then, 4th Marine Regiment has been involved in many joint exercises that have taken the regiment all across Asia and the Middle East.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT OF THE UNITED STATES MARINES
When the winds of
unrest stirred the American colonies to spawn revolution against the tyranny of
King George of England it fell upon the militia, a loose knit army of farmers
and settlers under the leadership of George Washington, to defeat the British
Red Coats and create a new nation.
Armed ships set sail to fight the British fleet at sea. There arose
a need for a fighting force separate from the crews who sailed the ships and
manned the cannons. The Continental Congress, addressing the problem, authorized
the formation of a military force to fill the need. An so, the word went out:
"FIND A FEW GOOD MEN AND CALL THEM MARINES!"
Thus on 10 November 1775, the Continental Marines became the first
military organization authorized by congregational action. In those days of
wooden sailing ships, the Continental Marines kept order at sea and maintained
internal security on board ship. In combat they manned the fighting tops,
sniping at gun crews on enemy ships. On deck they led boarding parties in close
action and repelled enemy boarding parties. These Marines earned the nickname
"Leatherneck." The time honored sobriquet was derived from the thick
leather stock worn around the neck to protect the Marine from the decapitating
slash of an enemy's cutlass.
The emblem of the
Marine Corps, the Eagle, Globe and Anchor, defines the mission of the
Corps--As the words of the Marine Corps Hymn declare--"First to fight our
Country's battles on land, sea and in the air." So it has been throughout
the long history of the Fourth Regiment of Marines.
In 1914 an upheaval in Mexico brought swift action by Marine Corps
Headquarters. Colonel Joseph H. Pendleton was ordered to report to San Francisco
to organize the Fourth Regiment for temporary foreign tropical shore service.
The newly formed regiment sailed from San Diego aboard Navy cruisers to
positions off Mexico's western shores and harbors. After the emergency passed,
they were returned to San Diego and North Island. As the result of the Navy
Department's decision to establish a combat ready unit on the West Coast, the
Fourth Marines became the nucleus of advance forces on the west coast. The road
to hell for the Fourth Marine regiment began on North Island where they were
bivouacked at Camp Howard. Camp Pendleton, the huge West Coast Training base for
today's Marines is named after Colonel Pendleton, the first commander of the
Fourth Marine Regiment.
In 1915 the regiment moved to a model camp in what is now Balboa
Park to take part in the Panama-California Exposition celebrating the opening of
the Panama Canal. Based in San Diego the regiment remained in striking distance
of possible disturbances in Latin America. On three occasions in 1915 the
regiment was dispatched to the western shores of Mexico when revolution again
threatened American interests. The rapid response to the danger area did not
result in combat action, but the Marine presence was effective in motivating the
Mexican Government to take action against the rebels.
On 3 February 1916 the regiment returned to San Diego. The new
Fourth Regiment had been in existence for over two years, but had not seen
action on the three excursions in Mexican waters for which they received
commendations for their rapid response.
Four months later, on 4
June 1916 Colonel Pendelton received orders for the regiment to embark for the
Republic of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean. Two days later the regiment departed
San Diego for New Orleans to board transports. Rebels, unhappy with the economic
distress in the country wanted to overthrow the government of the tiny island
republic.
The United States was fearful that an unfriendly foreign nation
might try to take advantage of the unrest to gain control of the island and
threaten the security of the Panama Canal. In keeping with the Monroe Doctrine,
to keep foreign influence out of the Caribbean, the Marines were dispatched to
Santo Domingo to quell the rebel uprising and bring order to the island nation.
The arrival of the Fourth Marine regiment in Santo Domingo marked the beginning
of an eight-year campaign to put an end to the rebel uprising and to administer
a military government until order was restored. On 11 December 1916, Colonel
Pendelton was promoted to Brigadier General and on 1 January 1917, Colonel
Theodore P. Kane assumed command of the Regiment.
In August of 1924 the Navy transport Henderson sailed from Santo
Domingo City, with the Fourth regiment aboard, bound for San Diego.
In the regiment's eight year absence, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San
Diego had been constructed and was ready for occupation by the Fourth Marines,
"San Diego's Own." During the next two years, due to the economic
conditions of the time; reductions in military spending and a world at peace,
the regiment's strength was depleted. On 29 June 1925, they were called upon to
lend assistance to local authorities when a severe earthquake struck Santa
Barbara, California. Active throughout July the Marines won the grateful
appreciation of the citizens of Santa Barbara for their help.
Another emergency once again called the Fourth regiment to respond
to the needs of the nation. In 1926 following a rash of mail robberies across
the country, the Postmaster General petitioned the Secretary of the Navy for
help in quelling the disruption of mail service.
On 18 October, Major
General John A. Lejeune, Commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered elements of the
Fourth regiment to be designated as the Western area Mail Guards. In three days,
the Marines were en route to their assigned duty on trains, mail trucks, post
offices and railroad depots. Once the Marines were posted, there were no more
mail robberies.
On 28 January 1927 the Fourth regiment received orders to proceed
to China. Five days later, the regiment boarded the Naval transport Chaumont for
duty in the international settlement in Shanghai China. As time passed, the word
spread throughout the Corps that the choice duty was with the "China
Marines." But duty in Shanghai was not without danger. On 12 December 1937
Japanese naval aircraft strafed and sank the U.S. Navy's Yangtze River patrol
boat, Panay. In February 1938 the Japanese tried to provoke an
"incident" by attempting to enter the American sector with armed
patrols. The Marines stopped the attempts without incident. In the waning months
of 1941, with world tensions growing, other foreign governments ordered their
troops out of the international settlement in Shanghai. The last bit of
protection left for American and U.S. interests in China was the small U. S. 7th
Fleet, the Fourth Marine Regiment and the Yangtze River patrol boats that
inspired the book and the movie, "THE SAND PEBBLES."
The final elements of the Fourth Regiment left Shanghai on 28
November 1941. They were the last foreign troops to leave the international
settlement. The Regimental band led the Marines down East Nanking Road toward
the Whangpoo River and the waiting evacuation ships. It was an end of an
era--the final day of one of the most desired duty stations in the history of
the Corps. The China Marines had been there 14 years.
Their arrival in the Philippines opened a new era for the Fourth Marines--a time
of jungle warfare, starvation and deprivation. These "Leathernecks"
may have been surrendered by Army command, but they refused to accept defeat.
The China Marines lived up to the proud heritage of the Corps, despite the horrors, the deprivation and barbaric treatment they were subjected to in Japanese Prisoner of War Slave labor camps. As prisoners, the marines continued the battle from behind barbed wire through sabotage and other activities designed to discomfit their captors.
The experiences related on this web
pages are the stories of the men of the Fourth Regiment of Marines, as told to
devotees of war stories, Marine Corps Historians and in letters from the men who
were there.
When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on 8 December, (Philippine time), 1941,
the men who were known as the China Marines were forever changed. After a half a
century or more, one would think memories of war and POW life would fade, some
do but others are like visions as vivid and horrible as when they occurred;
stark, real events--horrible and humorous--etched indelibly into the memory
banks of the brain. They found themselves in an environment where all the rules
of propriety they had been taught as a child had been erased and it was
necessary to violate every rule just to stay alive. It is impossible for a man
to remember every day of nearly six months on on the bulls eye that was the
Alamo of the Pacific. Nor can they recall every day, lived in the shadow of
death for nearly four years. However, certain events are like scenes from a
movie seen over and over again. There are visions of atrocities that exemplify
the adage, "Of man's inhumanity to his fellow man," as Japanese guards
viciously beat and tortured American Prisoners, scenes so inhuman that they
could not be visualized by one who was not there. The quotation, "War is
Hell," can not adequately symbolize the events of World War Two. Combat and
life as a Prisoner of War just can not be described as "Hell." Even to
call it, "A Living Hell," can only hint at the reality of what the
Battling Bastards of Bataan endured.
Some Japanese guards, veterans of
China, remembering the China Marines in Shanghai, took exceptional pleasure in
singling out Marine prisoners for harsh treatment. Here are the stories of how
the men of the Fourth Regiment of United States Marines, continued the battle
from behind barbed wire through sabotage and antics designed to befuddle their
captors.
But in the memories of the men, no longer on combat alert, there, hidden in the
dark reaches of the mind, are the memories of bloody combat in the Jungles of
Bataan and Corregidor.
In the tropics dead bodies bloat quickly, the odor of body excrement, released
by death, lies heavy in the air mingled with the smell of blood and the odor of
corpses rotting in the heat.
This is the reality of war--memories that can not be erased by time; of boys who
became men in combat--memories carried to the grave.
Lest we forget what these men did for their country--their number grows smaller
each year.
special thanks to China Marine
Otis H. (Karl) King
3rd Bn, "L" Co.
for contributing this page