page_title: 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines
section_title: Guam (1944)
hierarchical_section_title: 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines / World War II (1942–1945) / Guam (1944)
caption_attribution_description: English: A Marine fighting on Guam uses flamethrowers against Japanese positions on Adelup Point.
context_page_description: 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, abbreviated as, is an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps, based out of Kāne'ohe, Hawai'i. Known as either "Trinity" or "America's Battalion", the unit falls under the command of the 3rd Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division. The unit consists of approximately 1124 U.S. Marines and United States Navy sailors.
context_section_description: On 21 July 1944, around 0830, 3rd Battalion hit the Asan beaches on Guam. Landing on the extreme left of the entire 3rd Marine Division, their mission was to take Chonito Cliff and Adelup Point, which marked the left flank of the division. Within minutes the Japanese defenders opened up with mortars and machine guns, hitting many 3rd Battalion Marines coming ashore. By 0912 battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Houser reported many casualties caused by both mortars and sniper fire. Both Kilo and India Companies rushed the Chonito Cliffs but the Japanese defenders (Elements of the 2d Battalion, 18th Regiment and 320th Independent Infantry Battalion) resisted strongly, in some cases rolling grenades down the hillside. Supported by flamethrowers, half-tracks, and armor from the 3rd Tank Battalion, 3rd Battalion fought a bloody, three-hour battle up the side of Chonito Cliff. Houser then ordered Lima Company to flank the cliffs to the north by dashing down an exposed beach road. Having secured Chonito Cliff, the battalion then moved on to Adelup Point. The US Navy sent a destroyer to blast the Japanese caves at point-blank range and 3rd Battalion flamethrowers burned out Japanese soldiers who still remained. After securing Adelup Point, 3rd Battalion finished the day providing flank security for the rest of the 3rd Marines during the Battle for Bundschu Ridge and became the only unit in the regiment to accomplish its objectives by the end of W-Day.
  The first night of 21–22 July, the Marines of 3rd Battalion came under a concerted counterattack by the survivors of the Japanese 320th Independent Infantry Battalion, as well as the 319th, committed by Japanese commander General Kiyoshi Shigematsu to retake the Chonito Cliffs. The Japanese managed to infiltrate past many 3rd Battalion units through ravines and dry river beds and briefly threatened to overrun the battalion command post. The fighting was so heavy that parts of the Division Reserve were committed and the destroyer USS McKee was unable to provide close fire support, as the Japanese and Marines were so closely intermingled. However the Marines held firm and managed to repulse the attack by 0830. During the counterattack, a mortarman with Kilo Company, Private First Class Luther Skaggs, Jr., was critically wounded in the leg by a Japanese grenade. After applying a tourniquet, Skaggs continued to fight for another eight hours before moving unassisted to the rear where most of his leg was amputated. For this he became the first Marine from 3rd Battalion to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Over the next two days the 3rd Battalion fought a savage battle with the Japanese defenders for the Chonito Cliffs and Fonte Plateau area, as the battalion struggled to capture the Mt. Tenjo Road. On 23 July, 3rd Battalion seized the last ridge leading to the Fonte Plateau, provoking a heavy Japanese counterattack. LtCol Houser himself was seriously wounded in this engagement and the executive officer, Major Royal Bastian, took command. Then 3rd Battalion, now reinforced with tanks, took part in the assault on the Fonte Plateau on 25 July, seizing the key position after just an hour of fighting. The night of 25–26 July saw the climax of the fighting on Guam when the Japanese launched an all-out counterattack against the Americans. In the 3rd Battalion's sector, Japanese sailors of the 54th Keibitai launched a series of failed attacks against the now-well defended Marine positions. Backed up with artillery, the Marines easily repulsed the Japanese.
  On the morning of 31 July, 3rd Battalion proceeded east on the Mt. Tenjo road towards the island capital of Agana, which it liberated the same day after token resistance. By 1045, 15 minutes after its platoons entered the city, 3rd Battalion had reached the central plaza and stopped at the northern outskirts by noon. Resuming the offensive at 1545, 3rd Battalion pushed forward 1,500 yards to seize key road junctions that led to the towns of Finegayan and Barrigada. For the remaining ten days of the campaign, the battalion marched northeas
caption: 3rd Battalion Marines engaging Japanese positions at Adelup Point on Guam with a flamethrower on 21 July 1944.
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