World War II Guadalcanal The battalion was activated on 1 January 1941 at
Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba. On 18 September 1942, 2/7 landed on
Guadalcanal. They fought the
Battle of Guadalcanal for four months until they were relieved by elements of the
United States Army's Americal Division. The battalion was then sent to Australia along with the rest of the 1st Marine Division for rest and refit.
Operation Cartwheel 2/7 landed on
Cape Gloucester,
New Britain on 26 December 1943 under the command of Lieutenant colonel
Odell M. Conoley securing an airfield the first day. That night, Japanese Marines counterattacked and 2/7 took the brunt of the assault and the fighting continued throughout the night. By the time the sun began to rise, the entire Japanese force had been wiped out. On 14 January, 2/7 along with the rest of the regiment assaulted and took the last Japanese stronghold on the island, Hill 660. Two days later, the counter-attack came but the Marines held the hilltop often resorting to hand-to-hand fighting. The battalion continued to run patrols around the island to protect against guerrilla attacks from hold-out Japanese soldiers. In March 1944, New Britain was declared secure and on 1 April 1 Marine Division was relieved by the US Army
40th Infantry Division. 2/7, and the rest of the 1st Marine Division again returned to Australia.
Battle of Peleliu On 15 September 1944 , the 7th Marines (minus the 2nd battalion) landed along with the rest of the 1st Marine Division. Note: The 2nd battalion was the only battalion to be held in reserve. They were to go in later in the day in support of the 7th Marines. However, Chesty Puller's 1st Marines were having the worst time as they were on the left flank and adjacent to where the mountainous area on Peleliu called the Umurbrogal Pocket began – where all the Japanese holed up. On the night of 20 September the 2nd battalion went out to the transfer line, but there were not enough LVT's. Instead, they had to wait and go in the next morning directly in support of Chesty Puller's 1st Marines. The 2nd battalion went right into the middle of the fighting of the 1st marine regiment. When they landed they were met by intense artillery and mortar fire from Japanese positions that had not been touched by the pre-invasion bombardment. On 20 September, the 7th Marines broke out of their beachhead and linked up with the
1st Marines. The battalion fought on the island for another eight weeks before it was secured.
Battle of Okinawa On 1 April 1945, was part of the 80,000 marines that landed on
Okinawa. The 1st Marine Division landed on the southern portion of Okinawa against light resistance. Their beachhead was quickly secured and supplies began flowing in. Resistance began to become stronger as the marines pushed north. The 1st Marine Division was ordered into Reserve to protect the right flank of the invasion forces. The battalion fought the Japanese along the coast and was stopped suddenly at the
Shuri Castle. For 30 days, along with the rest of the Division and the Army
77th Infantry Division, battled the Japanese stronghold. After Okinawa, 2/7 was part of the
Operation Beleaguer in China where they went to repatriate the Japanese forces there. In addition they were called upon to keep the peace during the bloody civil war between the Chinese Nationalists and Communist forces. In 1947, 2/7 returned to California and were deactivated later that year.
Korean War , in line with
Headquarters and Service Company, 2d Battalion, 7th Marines, trying to contact the temporarily cut off Company F in a glancing engagement to permit the 5th and 7th Marines to withdraw from the Yudam-ni area 27 November 1950. The Battalion participated in the
Inchon Landing and the
recapture of Seoul. The 1st Marine Division, was then put back on ship and sailed around to the east coast of Korea. They eventually
landed at Wonsan in late October and from there participated in the
Battle of Chosin Reservoir. During the battle
Captain William Barber earned the
Medal of Honor for his actions as commander of Fox 2/7. F/2/7 held a position known as "Fox Hill" against vastly superior numbers of Chinese infantry, holding the Toktong Pass open and keeping the
5th Marine Regiment and the
7th Marine Regiment from getting cut off at Yudam-ni. His company's actions to keep the pass open, allowed these two regiments to perform their withdrawal from Yudam-ni and consolidate with the rest of the
1st Marine Division at Hagaru-ri. The mission to relieve F/2/7 on top of Fox Hill also led to
LtCol Raymond Davis, then commanding officer of
1st Battalion 7th Marines, receiving the Medal of Honor. After the withdrawal from Chosin the 1st Marine Division was
evacuated from Hungnam. The battalion took part in fighting on the East Central Front and Western Front of the
Jamestown Line for the remainder of the war. , 12/10/1965 (
Operation Harvest Moon) Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class
William R. Charette, USN was assigned as a medical corpsman with Company F, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines on 27 March 1953, when his heroic actions earned him the
Medal of Honor.
Vietnam War 2/7 was deployed to
Vietnam from July 1965 until October 1970 as part of the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division. The battalion operated in the southern half of I Corp most of the time. Qui Nhon,
Chu Lai,
Da Nang Air Base, Dai Loc and
An Hoa. 2/7 were instrumental players in
Operation Utah and
Operation Harvest Moon.
The Gulf War and the 1990s 2/7 relocated during January 1990 to
Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, California, and participated in
Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm in
Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait from August 1990 through March 1991 when they redeployed back to the United States. For the rest of the 1990s the battalion took part in the regular
Unit Deployment Program (UDP) rotation to Okinawa. In this scheme, 7th Marine Regiment sequentially rotated one of its battalions to
Camp Schwab for six months to serve as one of the three battalions attached to the
4th Marine Regiment. The battalion conducted jungle warfare training in Okinawa's Northern Training Area (NTA) and cold weather warfare training in mainland Japan by rotating to Marine Base Camp Fuji, at the base of Mt. Fuji. In October 1994, 2nd Battalion 7th Marines boarded the and to sail from Okinawa to the Philippines to take part in the 50th Anniversary reenactment of the landings at Leyte Gulf. ,
Iraq.
Iraq War (2003–2007) During the
2003 invasion of Iraq, 2/7 was stop-moved in Okinawa until the Summer of 2003. The battalion deployed in February 2004 in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). They were among the first marines redeployed to the country after the initial invasion, and lost eight marines during that deployment. The battalion deployed in support of OIF for the second time from July 2005 to January 2006. They operated in the
Al-Anbar Province and suffered 13 marines killed in action. The battalion was again deployed to Al-Anbar from January to August 2007. During this third Iraq deployment, 2/7 suffered 8 marines killed in action. Marines from the battalion took part in
Operation Vigilant Resolve and
Operation Alljah.
War in Afghanistan (2008, 2012–2013) , Helmand. 2/7 deployed to
Helmand and
Farah Provinces, Afghanistan from April to December 2008. the battalion suffered 20 men killed and 160 wounded, thirty of which were amputees. Four marines assigned or attached to the battalion were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during the 2008 deployment. The battalion deployed to Afghanistan again in the autumn of 2012 into early 2013.
Okinawa, Unit Deployment Program, and the 31st MEU, 2009-2011 Following its Afghanistan deployment, 2/7 deployed to Okinawa, Japan in January 2010, Because President
Donald Trump did not invoke the
Insurrection Act and the state did not request assistance, legal scholars and civil-rights groups contend the deployment violates the
Posse Comitatus Act, which bars active-duty forces from enforcing civilian law without explicit congressional authorization. However, since the Marines are solely being deployed to guard federal facilities and not enforcing the law, many legal scholars opine that it does not violate the Act. ==Unit awards==