4th Marine Regiment ( United States ) The 4th Marine Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Marine Corps . Based at Camp Schwab in Okinawa , Japan , it is part of the 3rd Marine Division of the III Marine Expeditionary Force . Mission . Locate and destroy the enemy within the Pacific Theater , and provide a means of force projection ; however , it is not limited to this theater , that is its main area of operations . 4th Marines also lends humanitarian aid where directed . Current units . Currently each of the Regiment ' s three battalion s are part of other Marine infantry regiments in the 1st Marine Division . The regiment in turn hosts battalions stationed in the US mainland and Hawaii for training in jungle warfare . History . Early years . The 4th Marine Regiment was first activated on April 16 , 1914 , in Puget Sound , Washington , & Mare Island , California Naval Yards , under the command of Colonel Joseph Henry Pendleton . This activation was a direct result of deteriorating relations between the United States and Mexico . On April 21 , President Woodrow Wilson ordered U . S . Naval Forces to Vera Cruz . Shortly after activation , 4th Marines embarked upon the headed for San Francisco . Upon their arrival they received four companies ( the 31st , 32nd , 34th and 35th ) which were to become attached to the regiment . The regiment then sailed for Mexico . On April 28 , 4th Marines arrived in Acapulco harbor . Reinforcements subsequently arrived in Mzatlan a week and half later . The regiment continued to maintain a presence in Mexican waters patrolling the shore through May and June . However by the end of June no landing had been deemed necessary and tensions had eased between Mexico and the United States . Shortly thereafter 4th Marines withdrew from Mexican waters and concluded their first Latin America n expedition . The regiment returned to San Diego , California to establish its new home base . Between this time and February 1916 the regiment conducted several missions of force projection off the coast of Mexico . None had required the Marines to actually disembark as diplomatic relations were subsequently smoothed over upon their arrival or shortly thereafter . The Dominican Republic broke out in civil war in the spring of 1916 . American forces were sent to quell the danger posed to Americans and other foreigners there . As the Americans came ashore the rebels withdrew from Santo Domingo , the capital , to Santiago where they had established another rival government . American forces called for reinforcements and 4th Marines was called into action . They left San Diego on June 6 for New Orleans . Three days later they boarded the for the Dominican Republic . World War II . The 4th Marines had been stationed in North China in the late 1930s , evacuating from Shanghai to Manila on 30 November 1941 . With its 3rd Battalion inactivated in China in 1934 , and further reduced by unreplaced separations from the service ( replacements were instead diverted at the direction of the 4th ' s commander to the 1st Special Defense Battalion in the Philippines ) , it consisted of only two battalions , each with only two rifle companies of two platoons each and one machinegun company . The 4th Marines absorbed the Marine Barracks Olongapo on 22 December 1941 to fill out the 1st and 2nd Battalions to three rifle companies of three platoons each , then added the 1st Special Defense Battalion at Cavite to create the 3rd Battalion . The 4th Marines then were moved to Corregidor where on 10 April 1942 it added the 4th Provisional Battalion composed of U . S . Navy personnel that had previously served during the Battle of Bataan as the Provisional Naval Battalion . When the Japanese defeated allied forces in Bataan on April 9 , 1942 , they shifted their focus to Corregidor Island . The island was essential to the invading Japanese forces , as it was the last remaining obstacle to Manila Bay , known as the finest harbor in the Orient . The regiment was composed of troops from 142 different U . S . and Filipino organizations with nearly 4 , 000 men with the regiment occupied the island at the time , but more than half were Army and Navy personnel without ground combat training . Approximately 1 , 500 U . S . Army and Philippine Scouts personnel reinforced the regiment during the defense of Corregidor , designated as the Reserve Battalion . On May 5 , Japanese soldiers landed on the island and faced fierce resistance from American and Filipino artillery , but with persistence the Japanese forces etched their way deeper into allied territory and eventually overcame one of the regiment ' s artillery batteries . Early the next day , Japanese tanks made it to shore . Army Lt . Gen . Jonathan Wainwright , the commander of U . S . forces in the Philippines under Gen . Douglas MacArthur , realized his men ' s defeat was imminent . Just a day after the invasion , he surrendered for fear that the more than 1 , 000 wounded troops would be captured or killed . The 4th Marine Regiment was utterly destroyed , and only a few surviving Marines and personnel made up what was left of the regiment . The regiment was subsequently dissolved under ill - fated control of its own accord . The commander of 4th Marines ordered the burning of the colors before they made their hasty evacuation . By 1 February 1944 , four Marine Raiders battalions were amalgamated into a re - established 4th Marine Regiment , bearing the name and honors of the original 4th Regiment lost in the Philippines in 1942 . The 1st , 4th , and 3rd Raider Battalions became respectively the 1st , 2nd , and 3rd Battalions , 4th Marines . The 2nd Raider Battalion became the regimental weapons company . 4th Marines , combined with the 22nd Marine and the 29th Marine Regiment , was assigned to the 6th Marine Division and fought at Guam and Okinawa . After the end of World War II , the 6th Marine Division was deactivated , also dissolving the regiments under its operational command . In 1951 the 4th Marines were reactivated carrying the honor and lineage of both the old and new 4th Regiments . Vietnam War . The 4th Marines served in the I Corps region of South Vietnam as part of the 3rd Marine Division , under the III Marine Amphibious Force . They landed in the spring and summer of 1965 near Chu Lai . The regimental headquarters was first at Da Nang , then in 1966 the HQ was moved to Phu Bai . In 1967 the regiment made its final move to Dong Ha , just below the Demilitarized Zone ( DMZ ) . There the regiment participated in many large operations throughout Quang Tri Province from the South China Sea to the Laotian Border along the southern half of the DMZ . During this period of time the 4th Marines were also providing security for the construction of the McNamara Line . Some of the major operations that the regiment was involved in were Operation Starlite ( August 17 – 24 , 1965 ) , Operation Hastings ( July 15 – August 3 , 1966 ) and Operation Prairie ( August 3 – October 27 , 1966 ) . Other major operations in 1967 and 1968 were Operation Prairie IV ( April 20 – May 17 , 1967 ) , Operation Hickory ( May 18 – 28 , 1967 ) , Operation Kingfisher ( July 16 – October 31 , 1967 ) and Operation Kentucky ( November 1 , 1967 – February 28 , 1969 ) . The two major enemy units they battled over those years were the 324B NVA Division and the 320th NVA Division . The regiment left Vietnam in late 1969 with 10 Marines and 1 Hospital Corpsman having received the Medal of Honor . Unit awards . A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited . Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the appropriate ribbon of the awarded unit citation . 4th Marines have been awarded the following :