Last of the famous Marine divisions of World War II, the Sixth was
activated on 7 September 1944 on Guadalcanal, the same island that the
First Marine Division had landed on exactly twenty five months before.
Although the Sixth Marine Division was new in name, the elements that
composed it were, for the most part, as old as the war itself. From the
First Provisional Brigade that had fought so notably on Guam came two
regiments: the Fourth Marines and the Twenty Second Marines. The other
regiment of the new division came from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina,
where it was organized, with the exception of its First Battalion, by
Colonel Victor F. Bleasdale from handpicked officers and men.
In command of the new division was Major General Lemuel C. Shepherd,
USMC, who had had a varied and colorful career in this war. He had
trained the Ninth Marines, afterwards a part of the Third Marine
Division, and was later Assistant Division Commander of the First Marine
Division during the Gloucester operation in New Britain. When the
landings on Guam were made in July of 1944, General Shepherd (then a
Brigadier) was in command of the First Provisional Marine Brigade. His
Brigade, consisting of the Fourth and Twenty Second Marines plus
reinforcing elements, fought notably on Guam and received the Navy Unit
Commendation for its excellent record.
The Assistant Division Commander was Brigadier General William T.
Clement, USMC, another colorful figure. On the staff of Admiral Thomas
Hart in the Philippines at the outbreak of the war, General Clement
(then a Colonel) left Corregidor on a submarine. Later he served in
London, and for a while was Commandant of the Marine Corps Schools at
Quantico before returning to the Pacific.
Of the three regiments the Twenty Second Marines was the oldest. It was
formed at San Diego in June, 1942, and the following month left for
Samoa where it remained as a part of the defense force until the fall of
1943. After an extensive training period the regiment left Samoa and
sailed to the island of Hawaii to prepare for the Marshalls Campaign.
During the Kwajalein phase it acted as a reserve and after the rapid
capture of Roi and Namur by the Fourth Marine Division, the Twenty
Second Marines, in accordance with the resulting speed-up in the Central
Pacific timetable, went on to assault Eniwetok in the Western Marshalls.
After a brief but bloody fight for Eniwetok, the regiment seized and
occupied numerous adjoining islands. From Eniwetok the Twenty Second
Marines went to Guadalcanal and trained there for the Guam Campaign. On
21 July 1944, the regiment landed on Guam on W-Day as a part of the
First Provisional Brigade. It drove inland against heavy resistance and
then turned to seal off Orote Peninsula. In conjunction with the Fourth
Marines, the Twenty Second drove the length of the peninsula and
destroyed the enemy emplaced there.
Activated on 8 January 1944, the Fourth Marines was formed from veteran
units—the four Marine Raider Battalions. It took its name from the
famous Marine regiment that had been lost on Bataan. Its officers and
men had seen action at Tulagi, Guadalcanal, Makin, New Georgia,
Bougainville; later at Guam, and abreast of the Twenty Second Marines
the new regiment received as such, its baptism of fire, when it landed
on 21 July 1944. After fighting its way inland and seizing Mt. Alifan,
the regiment joined the Twenty Second to reduce heavily defended Orote
Peninsula. The Fourth Marines had been on one operation previous to
Guam; it had seized the island of Emirau in the St. Matthias Group, and
although the operation was bloodless, it was a triumph in planning and
execution.
On 1 May 1944, the major part of the Twenty Ninth Marines was activated
at Camp Lejeune, New River, North Carolina. Two battalions were formed
from the pick of officers and men in the eastern part of the United
States at that time. These battalions were composed of some veterans but
the greater part had no previous combat experience. With reinforcing
elements, the regiment (less its First Battalion) crossed the United
States by rail and sailed to Guadalcanal in August. The First Battalion
joined the regiment on Guadalcanal in early October. It had been
activated from Second Marine Division troops on Hawaii in February,
1944. First called the Second Separate Infantry Battalion, it trained
for a brief time on Hawaii and then went to Saipan for that operation,
attached to the Second Division. Landing on D-Day the battalion, now
called the First Battalion, Twenty Ninth Marines, was attached to the
Eighth Marines and to it fell the task of capturing Mt. Tapotchau, the
commanding terrain on Saipan. Its losses were heavy—over 60%—and the
battalion therefore was not used in the Tinian operation, which
followed.
From the reinforcing elements of the First Provisional Brigade were
formed, in large part, the Sixth Tank Battalion, Sixth Pioneer
Battalion, the Sixth Engineer Battalion, and the division’s artillery
regiment, the Fifteenth Marines.