United States Marine Corps

===World War II===
[[File:Peter Ortiz.jpg|thumb|upright|Former [[List of French Paratrooper Units|French Foreign Legion]] Lieutenant, and U.S. Marine Corps officer [[Peter J. Ortiz]], who served in the European theater, often behind enemy lines]]

In [[World War II]], the Marines performed a central role in the [[Pacific War]], along with the U.S. Army. The battles of [[Guadalcanal campaign|Guadalcanal]], [[Bougainville campaign|Bougainville]], [[Battle of Tarawa|Tarawa]], [[Second Battle of Guam|Guam]], [[Battle of Tinian|Tinian]], [[New Britain campaign|Cape Gloucester]], [[Battle of Saipan|Saipan]], [[Battle of Peleliu|Peleliu]], [[Battle of Iwo Jima|Iwo Jima]], and [[Battle of Okinawa|Okinawa]] saw fierce fighting between marines and the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]. Some 600,000 Americans served in the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/expanding-the-size-of-the-u-s-military-in-world-war-ii/|title=Expanding the Size of the U.S. Military in World War II|website=warfarehistorynetwork.com|access-date=13 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812194913/http://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/wwii/expanding-the-size-of-the-u-s-military-in-world-war-ii/|archive-date=12 August 2018|url-status=live|date=26 June 2017}}</ref>

The Battle of Iwo Jima, which began on 19 February 1945, was arguably the most famous Marine engagement of the war. The Japanese had learned from their defeats in the [[Mariana and Palau Islands campaign|Marianas Campaign]] and prepared many fortified positions on the island including [[Pillbox (military)|pillboxes]] and network of tunnels. The Japanese put up fierce resistance, but American forces [[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima|reached the summit]] of [[Mount Suribachi]] on 23 February. The mission was accomplished with high losses of 26,000 American casualties and 22,000 Japanese.<ref>Derrick Wright and Jim Laurier, ''Iwo Jima 1945: The Marines raise the flag on Mount Suribachi'' (2012)</ref>

The Marines played a comparatively minor role in the [[European theatre of World War II|European theater]]. Nonetheless, they did continue to provide security detachments to U.S. embassies and ships, contributed personnel to small [[Special operations|special ops]] teams dropped into [[Wehrmacht|Nazi]]-occupied Europe as part of [[Office of Strategic Services]] (OSS, the precursor to the [[CIA]]) missions, and acted as staff planners and trainers for U.S. Army amphibious operations, including the [[Normandy landings]].<ref>Chenoweth (2005), pp. 270–71</ref><ref>Smith Jr., Thomas W., "Rivalry at Normandy", ''National Review'', 4 June 2004</ref> By the end of the war, the Corps had expanded from two brigades to six [[division (military)|divisions]], five [[Wing (military unit)|air wings]], and supporting troops, totaling about 485,000 marines. In addition, 20 [[Marine defense battalions|defense battalions]] and a [[paramarines|parachute battalion]] were raised.<ref>{{cite web|title=Marines in World War II Commemorative Series |publisher=Marine Corps Historical Center |url=http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/usmc/index.htm |access-date=17 January 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208103845/http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extcontent/usmc/index.htm |archive-date=8 February 2008}}</ref> Nearly 87,000 marines were casualties during World War II (including nearly 20,000 killed), and 82 were awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Medal of honor: historical facts & figures |first=Ron |last=Owens |page=110|publisher =Turner Publishing Company|year=2004 |isbn =978-1-56311-995-8}}</ref>

[[File:2018-10-31 15 25 21 The west side of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington County, Virginia.jpg|thumb|Photograph of the [[Marine Corps War Memorial]], which depicts the second U.S. flag-raising atop [[Mount Suribachi]], on Iwo Jima. The memorial is modeled on [[Joe Rosenthal]]'s famous [[Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima]].|alt=Color photo of the [[Marine Corps War Memorial]], a bronze statue of six marines raising a U.S. flag attached unto a Japanese pipe atop [[Mount Suribachi]].]]
In 1942, the Navy [[Seabee]]s were created with the Marine Corps providing their organization and military training. Many Seabee units were issued the USMC standard issue and were re-designated "Marine". Despite the Corps giving them their military organization and military training, issuing them uniforms, and redesignating their units, the Seabees remained Navy.{{NoteTag|See: [[17th Marines]], [[18th Marines]], [[19th Marines]], and [[20th Marines]]}}<ref>Battle Orders – US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1943–44, Gordon L Rottman, Osprey Publishing, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eCwVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13 p.&nbsp;13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170312130832/https://books.google.com/books?id=eCwVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&source=bl&ots=5BxH0UdfEJ&sig=ZO95VT9M57BofYTQFW-AhcQwCmM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjikaeU7srSAhWo34MKHcSZB2c4ChDoAQg0MAc#v=onepage&f=false |date=12 March 2017}}.</ref><ref name="history.navy.mil">{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Online%20Reading%20Room/Seabee%20FAQs/SeaBees%20and%20the%20US%20Marine%20Corps%20II.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525180137/https://www.history.navy.mil/content/dam/museums/Seabee/Online%20Reading%20Room/Seabee%20FAQs/SeaBees%20and%20the%20US%20Marine%20Corps%20II.pdf|title=Seabees with the Marines, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum Archives, Port Hueneme, CA 93043|archive-date=25 May 2017}}</ref> USMC historian Gordon L. Rottmann writes that one of the "Navy's biggest contributions to the Marine Corps during WWII was the creation of the Seabees."<ref>{{cite book |title=U.S. Marine Corps World War II Order of Battle: Ground and Air units in the Pacific War, 1939–1945 |first=Gordon L. |last=Rottman |location=Westport, Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Press |year=2002 |page=31 |isbn=978-0-31331-906-8}}</ref>

Despite [[United States Secretary of the Navy|Secretary of the Navy]] [[James Forrestal]]'s prediction that the Marine flag raising at Iwo Jima meant "a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years",<ref name="Warren2007">{{cite book |last=Warren |first=James A. |title=American Spartans: The U.S. Marines: A Combat History from Iwo Jima to Iraq | url=https://archive.org/details/americanspartans00jame |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4165-3297-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanspartans00jame/page/70 70]}}</ref><ref name="Clancy1996">{{cite book |last=Clancy | first=Tom |author-link=Tom Clancy |title=Marine: A Guided Tour of a Marine Expeditionary Unit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wQG95Vd5iYYC&pg=PT670 |year=1996 |publisher=Penguin Group US |isbn=978-1-4295-2009-6 |page=670 |access-date=6 June 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708150644/http://books.google.com/books?id=wQG95Vd5iYYC&pg=PT670 |archive-date=8 July 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> the Corps faced an immediate institutional crisis following the war because of a suddenly shrunken budget. Army generals pushing for a strengthened and reorganized defense establishment attempted to fold the Marine mission and assets into the Navy and Army. Drawing on hastily assembled Congressional support, and with the assistance of the so-called "[[Revolt of the Admirals]]", the Marine Corps rebuffed such efforts to dismantle the Corps, resulting in statutory protection of the Marine Corps in the [[National Security Act of 1947]].<ref name="Krulak">{{Cite book |last= Krulak |first= Victor H. |author-link= Victor H. Krulak |title= First To Fight: An Inside View of the U.S. Marine Corps |publisher= Naval Institute Press |year= 1984 |location= Annapolis, Maryland |isbn= 0-87021-785-2}} Chapter 7, ''The Marines' Push Button'' pp. 113–119.</ref> Shortly afterward, in 1952 the Douglas–Mansfield Act afforded the commandant an equal voice with the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]] on matters relating to the Marines and established the structure of [[List of United States Marine Corps divisions|three active divisions]] and [[List of United States Marine Corps aircraft wings|air wings]] that remain today.{{Citation needed|date=March 2021}}