This Week in Marine Corps History (10/13 -10/19)

13 October 1944: Organized Japanese resistance formally ended on Peleliu although some Japanese fought on for years believing that the war was not over.

14 October 1926: After the brutal robbery and killing of a U. S. Mail truck driver in Elizabeth, NJ, President Calvin Coolidge turned to the Marine Corps for assistance. By Presidential Order, 2,500 Marines began guarding the mail.

15 October 1942: Marine Air Group 11 embarked for the South Pacific.

16 October 1962: The first of the CH-46A helicopters began testing. The first Marine squadrons took these aircraft into service in early 1965.

17 October 1820: LtCol Archibald Henderson was appointed Commandant of the Marine Corps. He served in this position for 38 years.

18 October 2002: It was announced that the I Marine Expeditionary Force, which could serve as a ground vanguard in any strike against Iraq, would soon move most of their headquarters to Kuwait.

19 October 1968: Operation Maui Peak, a combined regimental-sized operation which began on 6 October, ended 11 miles northwest of An Hoa, Vietnam. More than 300 enemy were killed in the 13-day operation.

This Week in Marine Corps History (10/6 - 10/12)

6 October 1916: Dog tags were first authorized by Marine Corps Order Number 32.

7 October 1950: With North Korean forces in full retreat, the Inchon-Seoul campaign of the Korean War was formally declared closed.

8 October 1899: A force of 376 Marines captured the insurgent town of Novaleta, Philippines.

9 October 1911: Joe Rosenthal, the photographer who snapped the iconic image of 5 Marines and a Corpsman raising the flag on Mount Suribachi, was born in Washington, D.C.

10 October 1942: Elements of the 2nd Bn 2nd Marine Regiment conducted a two-day raid on the villages of Koilotamaria and Garabaus, Guadalcanal.

11 October 1971: Marine legend Lt. General Chesty Puller, succumbed to pneumonia and kidney infection and died at age 73.

12 October 1979: Iwo Jima flag raiser Corporal Rene Gagnon died in Manchester, New Hampshire at the age of 54.

This Week in Marine Corps History (09/29 - 05/06)

29 September 1950: PFC Stanley R. Christianson gave his life in a one-man stand against a ferocious attack which threatened to destroy his platoon in Korea. For his heroism, Christianson was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.

30 September 1942: Admiral Nimitz made an emergency landing at Henderson Field, Guadalcanal. Nimitz made the most of the opportunity, visiting the front lines, talking to a number of Marines and reaffirmed to General Vandegrift that his overriding mission was to hold the airfield.

1 October 1931: Major General Smedley Butler, twice awarded the Medal of Honor, retired upon his own application after completion of 33 years service in the Marine Corps.

2 October 1923: Birthday of CWO 4 Hershel Williams a career Marine who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his outstanding heroism in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

3 October 1903: Maj. General George Elliot became the 10th Commandant of the Marine Corps.

4 October 1918 : SGT Matej Kocak, who earned the Army and Navy Medals of Honor for "heroism above and beyond the call of duty" in action against the enemy on 18 July 1918, was killed in action by enemy gunfire in the Battle of Blanc Mont Ridge, France.

5 October 1974: First Lieutenant Robert G. Robinson, who earned the Medal of Honor as a pilot in World War I, passed away at the age of 79.