Videos

Marine Aircraft Group 12 celebrates its 77th anniversary March 1, 2019 at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan.

U.S. military members from Marine Forces Pacific Command, American officials and distinguished guests from partner nations gather for a memorial ceremony in Betio, Tarawa Atoll, Republic of Kiribati, Nov. 20, 2018. The ceremony marks the 75th anniversary of the landings in Betio that initiated the Battle of Tarawa. It was held to memorialize the shared sacrifice of all who fought there and showcase combined commitment to sustaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Lance Cpl. Alexia Lythos and Lance Cpl. Brennan Priest)

Cpl. William Hook, who was the driver for the 3rd Amphibious Corps' leadership, first stepped foot on Okinawa on Easter Sunday, 1945. After more than 70 years, Hook returned to Okinawa. Okinawa, no longer the jungle he remembered, was now a concrete jungle. The ruins he remembered were built into something beautiful. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Sgt. Natalie Dillon)

Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, the first complete Marine air group to be transported by sea to a combat zone, launched from the USS Princeton to the shores of Vietnam, Sept. 1, 1965. Immediately, they began providing troop lifts, air strikes, medical evacuation, resupplies, and reconnaissance insertions and extractions in the southern area of operations. MAG-36 flew daily in support of Marines on the ground. Meanwhile, while many U.S. and South Vietnamese forces celebrated the Tet holiday, tens of thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers, Viet Cong guerrillas and local communist militants moved under the cover of night. Their objective was to simultaneously attack more than 100 U.S. and South Vietnamese occupied cities and bases. In the early hours of Jan. 31, 1968, the Communist-led Tet Offensive was in full force.

On Jan. 11, 1945 the first elements of Marine Aircraft Group 24 landed on the south shore of the Lingayen Gulf on the western coast of the Luzon Islands in the Philippines. They provided close air support to nearly 175,000 Army forces that trekked across the 20-mile beach head. They made a major contribution to the large scale Army drive to retake the Philippines.

Hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, 36 Mitsubishi G3M3 bombers attacked Wake Island on December 8, 1941. The island was defended by 449 Marines from the 1st Marine Defense Battalion with aid from a detachment of 50 Marines from VMF-211 with 12 F4F-3 Wildcats. Wake Island remained under Japanese control until it was surrendered to the United States on September 4, 1945. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Lance Cpl. Alexia Lythos)