Early years The battalion was first activated in 1925 at Naval Base San Diego, California. Since its initial inception in 1925, this unit has had several periods of activation.
World War II On May 1, 1941, at
Cavite,
Philippine Islands became the First Separate Marine Battalion, Navy Yard, Cavite. Relocated during December 1941 to
Corregidor, Philippine Islands. Redesignated January 1, 1942, to the Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, Corregidor, Philippine Island. The
4th Marine Regiment participated in the
Battle of Corregidor from January to May 1942. The unit was ordered to surrender by
Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright on May 6, 1942, an order with which Colonel
Samuel L. Howard, the commanding officer of the 4th Marines, agreed. Colonel Curtis, the regimental executive officer, ordered Captain Robert B. Moore to take the regimental colors outside and burn them rather than allow them to fall into enemy hands. Once the order was carried out, Colonel Howard wept and said, "My God, and I had to be the first Marine officer ever to surrender a regiment." After this 4th Marines temporarily ceased to exist. On February 1, 1944, four
Marine Raider 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. Forming part of the
1st Provisional Marine Brigade and later
6th Marine Division, the 4th Marines fought in the battles of
Guam and
Okinawa. who was also seriously wounded and waiting to be treated. The photo called "Reaching Out" is shown in many special
Time-Life issues. In March 2013 the battalion deployed to Helmand province, operating primarily in and around Camp Leatherneck, along with platoons pushed out to the Sangin and Now Zad areas. The battalion returned home in October 2013, completing their 8th OEF/OIF combat deployment, the most of any USMC battalion since 2001.
Marine Unit Deployment Program The battalion deployed in 2017 from April to October to Darwin Australia under the Marine Corp's Unit Deployment Program as
Marine Rotational Force - Darwin (MRF-D). Multinational training programs were executed with participants from Australia, Japan, France and elements from the United States Army and the United States Special Operations Command. During the deployment 3rd Battalion 4th Marines established itself as a
Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF). Supporting elements came from tilt wing and rotary wing helicopter squadrons, logistics units, and engineering elements. The mission of the MAGTF was to build cohesion with the
Australian Defence Force and the United States Marine Corps. The most notable exercise was Talisman Sabre.
Infantry Battalion Experiment & Force Design 2030 As a part of Force Design 2030 V34 was tasked with experimenting with the design ofn the infantry battalion. Changes included dispersing Weapons Company into the line companies, implementing a maturity quotient where GySgt's were platoon sergeants, SSgt's as squad leaders and MSgt's as Ops Chiefs. Other changes included adding the first ever Cyber Officer at the infantry battalion, adding an Influence Officer and Influence Chief, adding Signals Intelligence/ Electromagnetic warfare, and increasing the amount of Small UAS systems organic to the battalion. After an intensive 18 month workup between 29 Palms, Camp Pendleton and the Army's National Training Center the battalion deployed to Okinawa Japan once again. ==3/4 Medal of Honor recipients==