First Marine Division Photo Gallery

FIRST MARINE DIVISION PHOTO GALLERY

The First Marine Division served across the Pacific from first to last in the Second World War. The images below show some of the experiences that Marines of The Old Breed lived through in their wartime years.

20 June 1942-Wellington Harbor, New Zealand. Troops of the 1st MarDiv debark from their transport after over a month at sea. Most of them wear the winter service uniform and they are still equipped with the M1903 rifle. Still image from USMC motion picture film

20 June 1942-Wellington Harbor, New Zealand. MajGen A. A. Vandegrift, CG, 1st MarDiv, (wearing overcoat) and BrigGen William Rupertus, ADC, 1st MarDiv, (foreground) debark from the USS Wakefield (AP-21). Still image from USMC motion picture film

20 June 1942-Wellington Harbor, New Zealand. MajGen Vandegrift (wearing overcoat), and BrigGen Rupertus (center), confer dockside after debarkation. Still image from USMC motion picture film

20 June 1942-At their new camp outside of Wellington, Marines of the 1st MarDiv find their bunks under the watchful eye of their platoon sergeant. The Marine standing in the door is a BAR man and his NCO carried a Reising submachine gun. The division only stayed in New Zealand for a very short time. Still image from USMC motion picture film

June 1942-NCO's of the 5th Marine Regiment reading The Dominion Post. The Fifth was a storied regiment with combat service in France during World War I. The corporal at right displays the French Fourragere, worn by all hands in the regiment. Still image from USMC motion picture film

During a visit to Guadalcanal in 1942, Adm Chester Nimitz, CINCPAC, decorates Col Merritt 'Red Mike' Edson with the Navy Cross for heroism in action while in command of the 1st Raider Battalion in the assault on Tulagi from 7-9 August 1942. Still image from USMC motion picture film

Lt Col Lewis B. Puller marches at the head of 1st Battalion, 7th Marines, during the campaign for Guadalcanal, 1942. Puller earned the third of his six Navy Crosses while commanding 1/7 on the 'canal, and he was wounded in action there. Still image from USMC motion picture film

A 1st MarDiv honor guard in Melbourne, Australia, 1943. These Marines are wearing the Australian Army battledress blouse issued by the division Quartermaster when units arrived in Australia following the Guadalcanal campaign. Australian War Memorial

A posed shot of 1st MarDiv troops reading their mail, Melbourne, Australia, 1943. Australian War Memorial

Pvt Al Schmid of Burholme, Penna., is awarded the Navy Cross by Col A. E. Russell at Marine Barracks, Washington, DC. Schmid earned his award while serving as a heavy machine gunner with H 2/1 on Guadalcanal. On the night of 21 August 1942, his unit was attacked by the Japanese Ichiki Detachment. Although blinded in the action, he courageously manned his gun and was instrumental in breaking up the enemy assaults. Schmid died in 1982 and is interred in Arlington National Cemetery. US Marine Corps

A 6 x 6 truck of 3rd Bn, 17th Marines, plows through the morass of a trail at Cape Gloucester, 1944. Australian War Memorial

The Price, by Tom Lea, depicting a wounded Marine of the 1st MarDiv during the D-Day assault on Peleliu. About this painting, Lea later wrote: "Lying in terror looking longingly up the slope to better cover, I saw a wounded man near me, staggering in the direction of the LVTs. His face was half bloody pulp and the mangled shreds of what was left of an arm hung down like a stick, as he bent over in the stumbling, shock-crazy walk. The half of his face that was still human had the most terrifying look of abject patiences I have ever seen. He fell behind me, in a red puddle on the white sand." U. S. Army Art Collection

Down From Bloody Nose Ridge, by Tom Lea, depicting a combat fatigued Marine of the 1st MarDiv on Peleliu. In the background is the Umurbrogal complex. Lea wrote of this subject: "As we passed sick bay, still in the shell hole, it was crowded with wounded, and somehow hushed in the evening light. I noticed a tattered Marine standing quietly by a corpsman, staring stiffly at nothing. His mind had crumbled in battle, his jaw hung, and his eyes were like two black empty holes in his head. Down by the beach again, we walked silently as we passed the long line of dead Marines under the tarpaulins." U. S. Army Art Collection

Sundown at Peleliu by Tom Lea. U. S. Army Art Collection

War is Fighting and Fighting is Killing, by Tom Lea. U. S. Army Art Collection

1 April 1945, L-Day on Okinawa. An infantry Marine moves across the beach under cover of an LVT(A)-4 amphibian tank. Still image from USMC motion picture film

1945-Marines in combat on southern Okinawa. The First and Sixth Marine Divisions fought in this, the last campaign of the war. The island's rugged terrain posed an extreme challenge that required the utmost in courage and tactics. Still image from USMC motion picture film

1945-Marines in combat on southern Okinawa. These men move out under fire toward their objective. The rifle squad was the building block of Marine tactical operations. Still image from USMC motion picture film

1945-Marines in combat on southern Okinawa. A .30-caliber light machine gun lays down fire support for an infantry attack. These automatic weapons were crucial elements in the rifle company's operations. Still image from USMC motion picture film

In the immediate postwar period, Marines of the 1st Military Police Co. stand in formation with their Harley Davidson motorcycles at Camp Pendleton, Calif. US Marine Corps

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