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Famous Military Units

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines

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Approximately 800 Marines and Sailors of the "Two Five" comprised of H&S Co, Echo Co, Fox Co, Golf Co, and Weapons Co. are based at MCB Camp Pendleton, California under command of the 1st Marine Division. The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines is a battalion-level infantry unit composed of Marines and support personnel. Infantry battalions are the basic tactical units that the regiment uses to accomplish its mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy by fire and close combat. 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines: Rich History and Service Marines: Together We Served lists 3,104 registered members who had been assigned to this unit as of August 2023, from Col. Abbink to Sgt Zwarka. A superior and reliable summary of the 2/5 from its own lineage history and Marines TWS reads: "The 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines was initially formed in July 1914 and immediately sailed to the Caribbean due to political turmoil in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The battalion returned to the United States...

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Famous Navy Unit: USS Frank E. Evans

Famous Navy Unit: USS Frank E. Evans

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"Most Holy Spirit, who didst broodUpon the chaos, wild and rude,And bid its angry tumult cease,And give, for fierce confusion, peace;Oh, hear us when we cry to TheeFor those in peril on the sea…."     William Whiting (1825-1878) The circumstances of a warship's lineage and history, including its end of days, sometimes assume both heroic and dramatically calamitous features. Between 1943 and 1946, fifty-eight US Navy Destroyers of the Sumner class were built in eleven shipyards. Although somewhat slower owing to greater displacement, Sumner vessels were distinguished from their predecessor classes primarily by having a slightly wider beam, adoption of twin rudders, and an enormous firepower that could be directed forward. A great many served in the Pacific, and the USS Frank E. Evans was among them. Eventually, their numbers simply became obsolete; some were lost in battle or damaged beyond repair. Today, only one of the Sumners survives; at Patriot's Point Naval and...

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Famous Army Unit: 1st Motion Picture Unit

Famous Army Unit: 1st Motion Picture Unit

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Constituted from the 18th AAF Base Unit, the designated 1st Motion Picture Unit was an independent Army Air Force film production outfit, creating between three and four hundred films in three years. They were assigned to produce propaganda, instructional, animation, historical, combat, and morale-boosting materials for military and civilian consumption in support of the WWII effort: 1st Motion Picture Unit: Formation and Operations "… in December 1941, the Air Corps was a part of the Army, and motion picture production was the responsibility of the Army Signal Corps. USAAF Commanding General "Hap" Arnold believed that forming an independent film entity would help the Air Service gain its independence. At a meeting in March 1942, General Arnold commissioned Warner Bros. head Jack L. Warner, producer Hal Wallis and scriptwriter Owen Crump to create the unit. Warner was made Lieutenant Colonel and Crump a Captain, but Wallis, who was then in production with Casablanca, did not accept...

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Famous Army Unit: Department of the Army Special Photographic Office (DASPO)

Famous Army Unit: Department of the Army Special Photographic Office (DASPO)

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By 1962 the world was becoming a very scary place punctuated by continuing confrontations between global communist and democratic powers, alongside growing civil, racial, and political unrest.  In Southeast Asia, the Korean War brought an indecisive outcome, and the tide of combat in Vietnam now favored communist forces despite US advisors in place since 1956.  Further, in 1961 alone there was an armed conflict between communist and democratic armies along the Chinese-Burma border, UN peace-keeping forces fighting at Kabalo and Katanga (Operation Rampunch) in the Congo, and the US-backed Bay of Pigs, a failed attempt to overthrow Castro’s regime in Cuba.  In Europe, the Berlin Wall was constructed following decades-long Soviet blockades leading to the activation of more than 150,000 US guardsmen and reservists together with Operation Stair Step, the largest jet deployment in history.  Then in October 1962, provoked by ongoing US efforts against Cuba (Operation...

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Famous Marine Corps Unit: 1st Samoan Battalion

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 1st Samoan Battalion

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World War II as a global event unfolded over more than a decade, impacting countries in different ways and at very different times.  Undoubtedly Americans identify the war’s start consistently with the Pearl Harbor attack and declaration of war by Japan on December 7, 1941, but the beginnings of the conflict date much earlier to 1931 with Japan’s invasion of Manchuria.  In recognition of their brutal ambitions and the escalating political activities in Europe the US became deeply immersed in war planning and preparations beginning early in the 1930s.  But, with an overwhelming isolationist stance gripping the US and a resulting lack of Federal funding those actions identified by the military as critical to national defense had to be deferred.  Only with tensions heightening around Japan and the outbreak of war in Europe during 1939 was President Roosevelt able to declare a limited national emergency, and in doing so, appropriate meager funding.  The 1st...

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Famous Army Unit: 761st Tank Battalion

Famous Army Unit: 761st Tank Battalion

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Entry of the United States into World War II quickly revealed how woefully ill-prepared the armed forces were to contend with a major conflict.  Apart from the peacetime draft instituted in 1940 and lend-lease support to Great Britain few actions had been taken to address escalating global tensions.  Now racing to enlist, train, arm and deploy resources necessary across multiple theatres of war the Army and other branches of service were forced to again face long-held racial discrimination and related practices.  Responding to arguments raised by General McNair, Commander of Army Ground Forces, the US began to experiment with segregated combat units in 1941 and as one outcome, the 761st Tank Battalion was activated April 1, 1942. Rated Superior during training by Lt. General Lear, Commander Second Army, the unit fought with distinction across the European Theatre of Operations (ETO) as the first Black tank battalion to enter combat, eventually adopting the nickname...

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Famous Navy Unit: USS Liberty

Famous Navy Unit: USS Liberty

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Three years before President Truman courageously recognized Israel's statehood, the first international leader to do so, the keel of a vessel named SS Simmons Victory was laid down in Portland, Oregon, designated as a Fleet Issue Ship assigned the duty of carrying munitions and general cargo at the end of WWII across the PTO. From the onset of troubles in Korea, the ship made nine Far East voyages in support. The History of USS Liberty By 1964 it had been converted to a Technical Research Ship and reclassified AGTR-5 of the US Navy, christened USS Liberty in honor of the ten states with settlements of that name. Its first log entry included this rhyme by Mustang Lt. Lester Morserf, Jr: "… With a spirit of Trust and "Get the Job Done."We each did tremble as her colors were raised,With pride for the symbol, we all have praised –And vow to add fame through duties done well,To its historic name – the Liberty Bell." USS Liberty served with the Atlantic Fleet on many seas and to many...

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Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Tamaroa

Famous Coast Guard Unit: USCGC Tamaroa

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The sky was red above Gloucester, MA, when fishermen on the swordboat Andrea Gail set out from their harbor with ominous flashes of lightning far away to the northwest that late autumn of 1991. At the 1 hour and 21-minute mark in the movie "The Perfect Storm," the first distress call to USCGC Tamaroa (portrayed by CGC Vigorous) is transmitted from USAF Pave Hawk "Jolly 110" assigned to the NYANG 106th Rescue Wing.  Sailing from her homeport at Newcastle, NH, Tamaroa had been coordinating air and sea operations looking for vessels caught in three violent Atlantic storms converging south of Nova Scotia when it was diverted. On a fourth HC-130 refueling sortie, 30 attempts to meet the drogue failed due to extreme turbulence of up to 100 knots; the Jolly 110 went dry and was forced to ditch. The Satori yacht passengers had been brought safely into a USCG rescue helicopter by then; at no time were they set aboard the Tamaroa. After five hours adrift in the tempest, seas sometimes reaching...

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Famous Army Unit: 100th Infantry Battalion

Famous Army Unit: 100th Infantry Battalion

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With much of the world already at war, December 7, 1941 proved not only a day that would live in infamy but for most Americans, an event that would redefine their world. This impact was no more significant or immediate than for US citizens of Japanese ancestry and in particular second-generation Americans, or Nisei.  Since 1937 the Japanese invasion of China and atrocities inflicted on civilian populations sickened most of the world, punctuated by the undeclared attack on Pearl Harbor.  Unfairly stricken with the effects of these acts the Nisei refused to be victims of these events, but instead, set a course to undeniably prove both their competence and loyalty.  Driven by this quest, the 100th Infantry Battalion performed with distinction and rose to become the most highly decorated unit for its size in US military history. Remember Pearl Harbor On December 7th, many Americans of Japanese Ancestry lived in Hawaii and served in the 298th and 299th Infantry Regiments.  Following the...

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Famous Military Unit: American Forces Network (AFRTS)

Famous Military Unit: American Forces Network (AFRTS)

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In 1984, the first commercially available DynaTAC audio-only cell phone cost just short of $4,000, with each call billed at 45 cents per minute. Forty years later, anyone in uniform accesses audio-visual news from thousands of sources using a personal cell phone throughout the world, wherever a signal and transmission tower can reach. Yet, for eighty years, the most reliable military broadcast remains the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). AFN Was Founded in 1942 as the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) In 1942 the War Department established the ARMED FORCES RADIO SERVICE (AFRS), followed in 1954 by its first television detachment at Limestone AFB, Maine. American Forces Network global operations are now headquartered at Fort Meade, MD, and emanate from AFN BROADCAST/DEFENSE MEDIA CENTER in Riverside, CA. The modern network was founded in London and later moved to France. Always tying us together has been news from home whether we are assigned to a Tender at sea or an...

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Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Marine Raider Battalion

Famous Marine Corps Unit: 2nd Marine Raider Battalion

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With America thrust into World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt became interested in creating an American equivalent to the British Commandos; elite, highly mobile, hard-hitting forces, and the Marine Corps was the natural place for this organization. The debate over the creation of these elite units came to a climax when the new commander of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral Chester Nimitz, requested a "commando unit" for raids against lightly defended Japanese-held islands. Created by an order from President Roosevelt, the Marine Commandant, Major General Thomas Holcomb, selected the term "Raider" and created two battalions. The 1st Raider Battalion was activated on February 16, 1942, under the command of Lt. Col. Merritt Edson, followed immediately by the 2nd Raider Battalion on February 19, under the command of Lt. Col. Evans F. Carlson. However, much of the Marine establishment was unaccepting of the change and, in combination...

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Famous Navy Unit: HA(L)-3 Seawolves

Famous Navy Unit: HA(L)-3 Seawolves

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Steeped in the political turmoil of an unpopular war and faced with unfamiliar terrain, embedded enemy supply practices, and tactics keying on stealth, by 1965, the US faced new and novel threats from Viet Cong forces with no ready recourse. Striving for any means to achieve supremacy, the Army turned to tried-and-true tactics while seeking a breakthrough military strategy. The answer, formation of the all-volunteer Navy Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3 (HA(L)-3), quickly renowned by their call sign "Seawolf." Utilizing hand-me-down equipment acquired from the Army and newly trained personnel, HA(L)-3 would go on to become the most highly decorated squadron in naval aviation history. During the squadron's five-year tenure, the Seawolves flew more than 120,000 missions with two-hundred wounded and forty-four KIA, earning the following commendations and landmark recognition. But just how was such unprecedented success possible in the face of antiquated equipment and the absence of...

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