6th Marine Division ( United States ) The 6th Marine Division was a United States Marine Corps infantry division that formed in September 1944 during World War II for the Battle of Okinawa where it was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation . The 6th Division also had prepared for the invasion of Japan before the war ended . The division disbanded on March 31 , 1946 , and was the only Marine division to be formed and disbanded overseas . History . World War II . Solomon Islands . The 6th Marine Division was formed on Guadalcanal in the southern Solomon Islands on September 7 , 1944 . The 6th division had been formed from three infantry regiments , the 4th , 22nd and 29th Marines , and other units such as Engineer , Medical , Pioneer , Motor Transport , Tank , Headquarters , and Service battalions . The core about which the division was formed was the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade , which included the 4th and 22nd Marine Regiments , plus their supporting artillery battalions - these artillery battalions were later combined into the 15th Marine Regiment . The Battle of Guam ended in August 1944 and the brigade was called to Guadalcanal with the 1st Battalion , 29th Marines , which had served with the 2nd Marine Division in the Battle of Saipan on the Mariana Islands . The 2nd and 3rd Battalions , 29th Marines disembarked from the United States on 1 August 1944 , and landed on Guadalcanal on 7 September 1944 . Okinawa . The 6th division trained on Guadalcanal before it was shipped 6 , 000 miles to land with the III Amphibious Corps on the island of Okinawa on 1 April 1945 . By 15 April , the division had swept through the northern Ishikawa Isthmus , where it came under fire by the Imperial Japanese Army . After heavy fighting in the south , the division replaced the Army 27th Infantry Division on the western island . The 6th division advanced south to partake in the assault against the strong Japanese defense line , called the Shuri Line , that had been constructed across the southern coastline . The Shuri Line was located in hills that were honeycombed with caves and passages , and the Marines had to traverse the hills to cross the line . The Marines that had assaulted the line were attacked by heavy Japanese mortar and artillery fire , which made it more difficult to secure the line . The division advanced to the southern island until 16 May and ran onto Sugar Loaf Hill located near the Okinawan capital of Naha . The division was ordered to capture the hill , which formed the western anchor of the Shuri Line defense . The 22nd Marines had been ordered to capture the hill before the 29th Marines started fighting on the hill on 16 May . After two days of fighting , the hill had been taken . The battle on Okinawa ended on 21 June 1945 . The 6th Marine Division had suffered 2 , 662 Marines and Navy corpsmen killed in action and 7 , 470 Marines and Navy corpsmen wounded in action . Guam & China . In July 1945 , the 6th division was withdrawn from Okinawa to the island of Guam to prepare for Operation Coronet , the planned invasion of Honshū , Japan that was supposed to occur in April 1946 . The Japanese surrender ed in August 1945 and the 6th division had been sailed to Tsingtao , China to accept the surrender . The 6th division remained in China until it was disbanded in Tsingtao on 31 March 1946 . Unit decorations and other awards . The 6th Marine Division members were awarded three unit awards for World War II : The Combat Action Ribbon ( 1969 ) is a personal decoration awarded by the Navy & Marine Corps retroactively from December 7 , 1941 . Members of the 6th Division are entitled to the following decorations and awards in the order of precedence : Medal of Honor recipients . The Medal of Honor was awarded to five Marines and one Navy corpsman assigned to the 6th Marine Division during World War II : Posthumous