The US Marine Corps has had a long and proud history as part of the US armed forces, and the Pacific Campaign of 1941 to 1945 is perhaps its finest hour.

During the course of the war the Marine Corps had expanded from two brigades of about 18,000 Marines to six divisions, five air wings, and various supporting arms to over 485,000 Marines.

They were the tip of the American spear during the Pacific campaign conducting amphibious assaults from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, through the atolls of Marshall Islands, to Islands of the Marianas with the invasions of Saipan, Tinian, and Guam. They prepared the way for the assault on Japanese by taking the Japanese possessions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, facing fierce fanatical resistance from Japanese defenders in some of the most savage fighting of the entire war.