page_title: United States Marine Corps
section_title: Interim: Vietnam War to the War on Terror
hierarchical_section_title: United States Marine Corps / History / Interim: Vietnam War to the War on Terror
caption_attribution_description: English: Memorial to 241 Marines, soldiers, and sailors killed in the October 23, 1983 Beirut barracks bombing, Beirut, Lebanon.
context_page_description: The United States Marine Corps, also referred to as the United States Marines, is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force. The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States.
  The Marine Corps has been a component of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834, working closely with naval forces. The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world. Additionally, several of the Marines' tactical aviation squadrons, primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons, are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers.
  The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore. In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare, advancing from island to island.
context_section_description: After the Vietnam War, the U.S. Marines resumed their expeditionary role, participating in the failed 1980 Iran hostage rescue attempt Operation Eagle Claw, the Operation Urgent Fury and the Operation Just Cause. On 23 October 1983, the Marine headquarters building in Beirut, Lebanon, was bombed, causing the highest peacetime losses to the Corps in its history (220 Marines and 21 other service members were killed) and leading to the American withdrawal from the country. The year 1990 saw Marines of the Joint Task Force Sharp Edge save thousands of lives by evacuating British, French and American nationals from the violence of the Liberian Civil War.
  During the Persian Gulf War of 1990 to 1991, Marine task forces formed for Operation Desert Shield, and later liberated Kuwait, along with Coalition forces, in Operation Desert Storm. Marines participated in combat operations in Somalia (1992–1995) during Operations Restore Hope, Restore Hope II, and United Shield to provide humanitarian relief. In 1997, Marines took part in Operation Silver Wake, the evacuation of American citizens from the US Embassy in Tirana, Albania.
caption: Beirut Memorial at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune
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