1. ORIGIN
Last of the famous Marine divisions of World WarII, the Sixth was activated on 7 September 1944 on Guadalcanal, the same island that the First Marine Division had landed on exactly twenty five months before. Although the Sixth Marine Division was new in name, the elements that composed it were, for the most part, as old as the war itself. From the First Provisional Brigade that had fought so notably on Guam came two regiments: the Fourth Marines and the Twenty Second Marines. The other regiment of the new division came from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where it was organized, with the exception of its First Battalion, by Colonel VictorF.Bleasdale from handpicked officers and men.
In command of the new division was Major General LemuelC.Shepherd,USMC, who had had a varied and colorful career in this war. He had trained the Ninth Marines, afterwards a part of the Third Marine Division, and was later Assistant Division Commander of the First Marine Division during the Gloucester operation in New Britain. When the landings on Guam were made in July of 1944, General Shepherd (then a Brigadier) was in command of the First Provisional Marine Brigade. His Brigade, consisting of the Fourth and Twenty Second Marines plus reinforcing elements, fought notably on Guam and received the Navy Unit Commendation for its excellent record.
The Assistant Division Commander was Brigadier General WilliamT.Clement,USMC, another colorful figure. On the staff of Admiral Thomas Hart in the Philippines at the outbreak of the war, General Clement (then a Colonel) left Corregidor on a submarine. Later he served in London, and for a while was Commandant of the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico before returning to the Pacific.
Of the three regiments the Twenty Second Marines was the oldest. It was formed at San Diego in June, 1942, and the following month left for Samoa where it remained as a part of the defense force until the fall of 1943. After an extensive training period the regiment left Samoa and sailed to the island of Hawaii to prepare for the Marshalls Campaign. During the Kwajalein phase it acted as a reserve and after the rapid capture of Roi and Namur by the Fourth Marine Division, the Twenty Second Marines, in accordance with the resulting speed-up in the Central Pacific timetable, went on to assault Eniwetok in the Western Marshalls. After a brief but bloody fight for Eniwetok, the regiment seized and occupied numerous adjoining islands. From Eniwetok the Twenty Second Marines went to Guadalcanal and trained there for the Guam Campaign. On 21 July 1944, the regiment landed on Guam onW-Day as a part of the First Provisional Brigade. It drove inland against heavy resistance and then turned to seal off Orote Peninsula. In conjunction with the Fourth Marines, the Twenty Second drove the length of the peninsula and destroyed the enemy emplaced there.
Activated on 8 January 1944, the Fourth Marines was formed from veteran units—the four Marine Raider Battalions. It took its name from the famous Marine regiment that had been lost on Bataan. Its officers and men had seen action at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Makin, New Georgia, Bougainville; later at Guam, and abreast of the Twenty Second Marines the new regiment received as such, its baptism of fire, when it landed on 21 July 1944. After fighting its way inland and seizingMt.Alifan, the regiment joined the Twenty Second to reduce heavily defended Orote Peninsula. The Fourth Marines had been on one operation previous to Guam; it had seized the island of Emirau in the St. Matthias Group, and although the operation was bloodless, it was a triumph in planning and execution.
On 1 May 1944, the major part of the Twenty Ninth Marines was activated at Camp Lejeune, New River, North Carolina. Two battalions were formed from the pick of officers and men in the eastern part of the United States at that time. These battalions were composed of some veterans but the greater part had no previous combat experience. With reinforcing elements, the regiment (less its First Battalion) crossed the United States by rail and sailed to Guadalcanal in August. The First Battalion joined the regiment on Guadalcanal in early October. It had been activated from Second Marine Division troops on Hawaii in February, 1944. First called the Second Separate Infantry Battalion, it trained for a brief time on Hawaii and then went to Saipan for that operation, attached to the Second Division. Landing on D-Day the battalion, now called the First Battalion, Twenty Ninth Marines, was attached to the Eighth Marines and to it fell the task of capturingMt.Tapotchau, the commanding terrain on Saipan. Its losses were heavy—over 60%—and the battalion therefore was not used in the Tinian operation, which followed.
From the reinforcing elements of the First Provisional Brigade were formed, in large part, the Sixth Tank Battalion, Sixth Pioneer Battalion, the Sixth Engineer Battalion, and the division’s artillery regiment, the Fifteenth Marines.