Today is the 234th anniversary of the founding of the United States Marine Corps (USMC).
The USMC birthday comes on the eve of Veterans' Day, which was established to commemorate the signing of the armistice that ended World War I and honor American military personnel.
In 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution establishing the creation of the Continental Marines. Two battalions were raised to aid the 13 colonies in their struggle for independence from the British Crown.
The Marines quickly established themselves as a force for amphibious warfare, supporting American forces on land and sea. However, by the end of the Revolutionary War, marked with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, the Continental Marines disbanded.
The Marine Corps was re-established in 1798 to aid the fledgling nation in conflicts with the French and later the Barbary Pirates, who had long been paid off by the U.S. government to stop raiding merchant ships.
The Battle of Derne in 1805 was the Marines' first battle on foreign soil and the decisive battle in the First Barbary War. With victory at hand on the "shores of Tripoli," Price Hamet of Tripoli presented Lt. Presley O'Bannon, who was in command of the Marine detachment in the Libyan desert, with a Mameluke sword. The ceremonial weapon remains in use by the Marine Corps to this day.
The Marine Corps would continue to play a key role for U.S. military forces during the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the Philippine Insurrection and the Boxer Rebellion.
During World War I operations, Marines began to take to the skies, supporting troops on the ground.
Marines' skill in land, sea and air combat would be put to the test during World War II. Time and again, Marines would distinguish themselves on battlefields the world over, including Guadalcanal, Saipan, Okinawa and Iwo Jima, the site from which the iconic photo pictured above was taken.
The Cold War would present new challenges to the Marine Corps, with intense campaigns on the Korean peninsula and in Vietnam. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Marines were deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq to combat the threat of terrorism.
On the 234th birthday of the establishment of the USMC, Marines continue to perform not only in military operations, as they were originally intended, but also disaster relief efforts, counter-narcotics operations and peacekeeping missions.
Photo Credit: U.S. National Archives
Tags: Modern History, War Stories
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