 The U.S. Marine Corps, which had been drastically reduced in size after World War II, was unprepared at the outset of the Korean War on 25 June 1950. The Joint Chiefs of Staff ordered the Marine Corps to ready a 15,000-man division for duty in Korea as a part of the United Nations Command being created there. The Marine Corps began rebuilding the 1st Marine Division to wartime strength, but in the meantime assembled a 4,725-man force around the 5th Marine Regiment to assist in the war effort as quickly as possible. On 7 July the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade was reactivated in California. One week later it sailed from Long Beach and San Diego. The regiment, which had originally been slated for landing in Japan, bypassed that country and landed at Pusan in South Korea on 3 August. As it sailed to Korea, it was put under the command of Brigadier General Edward A. Craig, who met the brigade in-country. The brigade was supported by Marine Aircraft Group 33, and became a subordinate unit of the Eighth United States Army under Lieutenant General Walton Walker, who placed it in his reserve.
