World War I The unit was activated on 8 June 1917, in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as the 5th Regiment of Marines. They immediately deployed to France, arriving on 26 June, and were assigned to the
1st Infantry Division of the
United States Army. Later that year, in October, they were reassigned to 4th Brigade of Marines under the
2nd Infantry Division. In spring 1918, the regiment, commanded by Colonel
Wendell C. Neville, a
Medal of Honor recipient, was involved in the fierce battle of
Belleau Wood. While it is often claimed that this is where the Marine Corps famous nickname the
Devil Dogs, from the German, “Teufel Hunden"—"Devil Dogs" in English—was bestowed upon the Marines by German soldiers at the
Battle of Belleau Wood in June 1918. However, on April 14, 1918, six weeks before that battle began, hundreds of U.S. newspapers ran stories using the phrase. However the Nickname remains one of the most popular and mythologized among the Marine Corps The Fifth subsequently participated in the offensive campaigns at
Aisne,
Battle of Saint-Mihiel and in the
Meuse-Argonne offensive. They also participated in the defensive campaigns at Toulon-Troyon, Château-Thierry, Marbache and Limey. From 1918 until 1919 the regiment participated in the occupation of the German Rhineland. In August 1919 it relocated back to
Marine Corps Base Quantico,
Virginia. It was inactivated on 13 August 1919. The regiment's actions in France earned them the right to wear the
Fourragère (seen in the outline of the unit's logo), one of only two in the Marine Corps (the other being the
6th Marine Regiment). The award was a result of being the only regiments in the
American Expeditionary Force to receive three
Croix de Guerre citations: two in the order of the army and one in the order of the corps—
Fourragère and
Croix de Guerre with two Palms and Gilt Star. The Fourragère became part of the uniform of the unit, and all members of the organization are authorized to wear the decoration on the left shoulder of the uniform while members of the organization. Three Marines of the regiment were awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions during the war. Sergeant
Louis Cukela, Gunnery Sergeant
Ernest A. Janson, and Sergeant
Matej Kocak each received two Medals of Honor (one from the Navy and one from the Army) for a single action, making them three of only nineteen double recipients of the medal. In addition, two U.S. Navy officers attached the 5th Marines received the Medal of Honor: Lieutenant Commander
Alexander Gordon Lyle of the
Navy Dental Corps and Lieutenant
Orlando H. Petty of the
Medical Corps.
Inter-war years Unit was reactivated on 8 July 1920. Elements of the regiment participated in mail guard duty in the eastern United States from November 1921 through May 1922 and once again from October 1926 through February 1927. They then deployed to
Nicaragua from January 1927. They continuously fought Nicaraguan rebels until they were again inactivated on 11 April 1930. 5th Marines was reactivated for the last time on 1 September 1934, at
Quantico, Virginia and were assigned to the 1st Marine Brigade. In 1940 they were deployed to
Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba and reassigned to the
1st Marine Division in February 1941. They were garrisoned at
New River,
North Carolina.
World War II After the outbreak of war, the 5th Marines deployed to
Wellington, New Zealand in June 1942. During World War II they fought on
Guadalcanal,
New Britain, Eastern
New Guinea,
Peleliu and
Okinawa. Immediately following the war in September 1945 they deployed to
Tianjin, China and participated in the occupation of North China until May 1947. They were redeployed to
Guam in May 1947 and reassigned to the 1st Provisional Marine Brigade. In 1949 they were relocated to
Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton.
Korean War and early 1950s On 5 August 1950, 5th Marines were deployed to the
Pusan Perimeter as part of the
1st Provisional Marine Brigade. From there, they participated in the
Inchon Landing,
Battle of Chosin Reservoir and fighting on the East-Central Front and Western Front until the end of hostilities. Immediately after the war, they participated in the defense of the
Korean Demilitarized Zone from July 1953 until February 1955. The regiment returned to Camp Pendleton in March 1955.
Vietnam War On 5 March 1966, 5th Marines deployed to the
Republic of Vietnam. They remained in Vietnam for the next five years, fighting at
Rung Sat,
Chu Lai,
Hue,
Phu Loc,
Que Son Valley,
An Hoa,
Tam Kỳ and
Da Nang. The 5th Marines finally left Vietnam in April 1971. In 2003, former 5th Marine sniper–turned–Vietnam War author, John J. Culbertson, documented in
13 Cent Killers: The 5th Marine Snipers in Vietnam, the stories of 5th Marine Regiment marksmen who, as the publisher describes, "fought with
bolt rifles and
bounties on their heads during the fiercest combat of the war, from 1967 through the Tet battle for Hue in early 1968."
Post-war years through 1990s Elements of the regiments participated in
Operation New Arrivals, the relocation of Vietnamese refugees to
Camp Pendleton,
California, from July through December 1975. Their next major action was
Operation Desert Shield and
Operation Desert Storm from August 1990 through April 1991. Combat operations in Southwest Asia were quickly followed by
Operation Sea Angel in
Bangladesh in May–June 1991.December 1992 BLT 2/9 assigned to the 15TH MEU(SOC) landed in Somalia and conducted combat operations.
Global war on terrorism On 5 February 2003, 5th Marines deployed to
Kuwait with its 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions (1/5, 2/5, 3/5) as part of the force that would be part of the
invasion of Iraq. They were supported by elements of the
1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion,
2nd Tank Battalion, various firing batteries of the
11th Marines,
2nd and
3rd Assault Amphibian Battalions, Company B from the
1st Combat Engineer Battalion, and
Combat Service Support Company 115 (CSSC–115). These attachments brought regimental strength up to more than 6,000 personnel on any given day. This was the largest the regiment had been in its history. On 21 March, the regiment became the first unit to cross into Iraq as it moved to seize the Rumayllah oil fields. For the drive north, RCT-5 advanced up a four-lane highway before swinging east toward the
Tigris River until the 1st Marine Division reunited to push into the red zone that encompassed
Baghdad and its suburbs. After all objectives had been secured, the Marines occupied assigned security sectors and conducted follow-on combat operations. During much of the attack north, the regiment led the
1st Marine Division in the deepest attack in Marine Corps history. The regiment suffered 12 killed and 126 seriously wounded in 33 days of combat. From October 2004 to March 2005 the regimental headquarters staff, led by Colonel Stuart Navarre, was deployed to Iraq in order to take over the role of the Iraqi Security Forces training directorate in support of 1st Marine Division at Camp Blue Diamond. Because the regiment wasn't deployed as a regimental combat team the headquarters staff took on the responsibility of working with the
Al Anbar Iraqi National Guard (ING) and the Iraqi Police in
Ramadi.
Fallujah Deployment, 2006–2007 In February 2006, the regiment deployed as Regimental Combat Team 5 to the Al Anbar Province, Iraq and assumed control of the greater
Fallujah area from the
8th Marine Regiment. They conducted combat operations, which included the training and advising of Iraqi forces in conjunction with military transition teams (MiTT) and police transition teams (PiTT). RCT-5 was camped in Camp Fallujah under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force(Fwd) until January 2007 when they were relieved in place by the
6th Marine Regiment (RCT 6), the first time in 94 years that the two regiments have been together on the battlefield.
Al Asad Deployment, 2008–2009 In late December 2007 and early January 2008, the regiment deployed again as Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5) to the Al Anbar Province, Iraq and assumed control of the greater Al Asad area and western portion of the province from the 2nd Marine Regiment (RCT-2). They conducted combat operations, which included the training and advising of Iraqi forces, and along with RCT-1 and Multi National Forces-West (MNF-W), oversaw Anbar's pacification and eventual transfer to provincial Iraqi control. RCT-5 also participated in the initial stage of the retrograde of thousands of pieces of equipment out of Iraq. RCT-5 was in Camp Ripper, Al Asad, under the command of I Marine Expeditionary Force (Fwd) and led by Colonel Patrick J. Malay. In January 2009, RCT-5 was relieved in place by the 8th Marine Regiment (RCT-8). Throughout the deployment, RCT-5 lost one Marine and one Soldier who served in units under the regiment while conducting combat operations. In early 2009, 5th Marines was designated as a contingency force due to back-to-back 13 month deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The regiment continued to participate in exercises and contingency deployments with the 1st Marine Division and prepared forces for deployment.
Afghanistan Deployment, 2011–2012 In August 2011, 5th Marines deployed as Regimental Combat Team 5 (RCT-5), for the first time to
Helmand province,
Afghanistan in support of
Operation Enduring Freedom. They conducted a Relief-In-Place (RIP) with the 1st Marine Regiment (RCT-1) and under the command of Colonel Roger Turner, assumed control of their area of operations of Marjah, Garmsir and Nawa districts. RCT-5 was based out of
Camp Dwyer. Their focus was on developing local defense forces in Garmsir and Nawa, mentoring and expanding the police force across southern
Helmand, providing further training to the Afghan National Army and supporting the retrograde of thousands of pieces of equipment out of
Afghanistan. In early July 2012, RCT-5 conducted a RIP with RCT-6. RCT-5 returned to
Camp Pendleton, California, in early August 2012. In August 2012, LtCol Jason Bohm was selected to be the next regimental commander.
Exercise Desert Scimitar, spring 2013 In April through early May 2013, 5th Marines participated in Exercise Desert Scimitar at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, 29 Palms, California. The purpose of the exercise was to command and control a Marine air ground task force (MAGTF) as part of the Marine Corps' shift from counterinsurgency back to conventional, linear warfare in light of the war in Afghanistan winding down. The training exercise included units from ground combat, aviation and logistics elements. Fifth Marine Regiment formed as a regimental combat team, focusing on practicing traditional warfare command and control tactics directing infantry, artillery and armored assets. The regiment practiced direct small and medium arms fire with infantrymen serving with 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines, and 1st Bn, 7th Marines; high-explosive indirect fires with the artillery of 2nd Battalion, 11th Marines; armored support assets of 1st Tank Battalion; and 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion during the exercise. In late May 2013, Marines of 5th Marine Regiment participated in a training exhibition with the French 21st Marine Infantry Regiment in Frejus, France. The Marines learned about and fired French weapons systems, including the FAMAS G2 assault rifle. They also used kayaks to venture into the Mediterranean Sea, providing the Marines with an opportunity to learn about the French Marines' reconnaissance tactics. In June 2013, Marines serving with 5th Marine Regiment gathered for the regiment's Operation Enduring Freedom Memorial Dedication ceremony. More than a hundred Marines, veterans and Gold Star Mothers gathered at the San Mateo Memorial Garden to join the regiment at the ceremony. The names of the Marines and sailors who fought and died serving with a 5th Marines battalion or under Regimental Combat Team 5 in Afghanistan are etched into the 7-ton, granite memorial. The 7-foot tall, 8-foot, 4-inch wide memorial was created in Barre, Vt., and traveled to Camp Pendleton in a 10-day journey where it was escorted every mile of the trip by Patriot Guard Riders, a motorcycle club that strongly supports service members by welcoming them home from deployments. Etched into the bottom of the memorial stone are the words, "FALLEN BUT NEVER FORGOTTEN."
Special purpose marine air-ground task force, May 2014 – December 2016 In May 2014, 5th Marine Regiment was named the Headquarters Element of a Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force (SP-MAGTF). The SP-MAGTF will act as CENTCOM's crisis response unit with Colonel Jason Bohm commanding it. It will also prove CENTCOM's ability to support theater security cooperation events such as exercises as well as respond to contingencies. The task force will be located in Kuwait, but will eventually operate from several different locations in the Middle East. The SP-MAGTF is composed of 2,300 Marines from Headquarters Company, 5th Marine Regiment, Camp Pendleton, California, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, Twentynine Palms, Calif., Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363, Miramar, Calif. and Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron 234, Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, Texas. Most units will be deployed for six or seven months, although the regimental headquarters may see a longer rotation. By January 2015, the SPMAGTF was operating in six countries within CENTCOM. For security concerns and out of deference to foreign partners in the region, it was not given a proper name. The task force flew both kinetic and non-kinetic missions daily in support of
Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led intervention against ISIS. The Marine Corps forces used existing infrastructure to create a partnership capacity site in Iraq designed to increase the capabilities of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). In addition, the SPMAGTF took advantage of bilateral training opportunities in theater. The unit participated in Exercise Red Reef with Navy, Marine Corps, and Royal Saudi Navy forces. On 30 March 2015, the Advance Party (ADVON) returned to Camp Pendleton, California. On 12 April 2015, the main body returned.
5th Marines relinquished command to
7th Marines. In April 2016, 5th Marines again led the command element for the Special Purpose Marine Air Ground Task Force–Crisis Response–Central Command on a 9-month deployment into harm's way. The SPMAGTF conducted combat operations against ISIS in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, with lines of effort focused on conducting theater security cooperation, contingency operations, crisis response, and advancing the force in the Central Command area of operations, returning in December 2016 after a successful deployment
March 2017 to present On 2 March 2017, Colonel George C. Schreffler III took command of
5th Marines. ==Unit awards==