9. GUAM
On 16 July General Shepherd and his staff arrived at Guam and set up his new command post. By direction of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific, a base camp had been built for the Sixth Marine Division on Guam. As soon as the units had moved into their new areas, construction was begun on chapels and recreation facilities. A division training order was issued on 23 July outlining a program to last from 6 August to 15 December 1945.
On 26 July General Shepherd published a letter of gratitude from the people of Guam to the officers and men of the Sixth Marine Division. Written on the occasion of “Guam Liberation Day”, 21 July, one year after the Fourth and Twenty Second Marines had landed on the bloody beaches near Agat, the letter, signed by several leading Guamanians said in part:
“On behalf of the people of Guam we take this opportunity, as a token of everlasting gratitude, to extend our greetings and felicitations to you, the officers and men of the First Provisional Brigade which formed the nucleus of the Sixth Marine Division, with its supporting arms and services, on the first anniversary ofD-Day.
“Through popular request, the twenty first of July has been designated as ‘Guam Liberation Day’. It is fitting and proper that we renew and reaffirm our loyalty and devotion to our mother country and the cause for which she stands.”
With general preparations for future combat operations against the enemy underway, the Sixth Marine Division launched an intensive training program in August. The main effort of the division was diverted, however, from 11-15 August to preparing and mounting out Task Group Able for the forthcoming occupation of Yokosuka Naval Base. This task group was a headquarters command headed by Brigadier General WilliamT.Clement which was superimposed over the Fourth Marines (Reinforced), under the command ofLt.Col.FredD.Beans. On 16 August, Task Group Able departed from Guam and three days later joined the Third Fleet.
As a part of the Fleet Landing Force, Task Group Able landed at Yokosuka Naval Base and Airfield on 30 August. There was no opposition to the landing. Here it remained as a part of the Sixth Marine Division until late in November when it passed from the administrative control of the division to that of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific. Its general duties consisted of demilitarizing the Naval area of responsibility, and in providing security for the Naval Base and Airfield. On 20 September, all reinforcing elements of the Fourth Marines and its superior command, Task Force Able Headquarters, returned to Guam, leaving the regiment under the operational control of the Eighth Army. By January the force had been reduced to the Third Battalion; the other two battalions, Weapons Company, and Headquarters and Service Company departed for theU. S.to be disbanded. Later a reduced regimental headquarters group left for Tsingtao to rejoin the division.