18th Marine Regiment (United States)

18th Marine Regiment
18th Marine Regiment insignia
Active18 September 1942 – 16 August 1944
Country United States of America
Branch United States Marine Corps
TypeEngineer Regiment
Part of2nd Marine Division
EngagementsWorld War II

The 18th Marine Regiment was a composite engineer regiment of the United States Marine Corps subordinate to the 2nd Marine Division. It was disbanded during the war, with the 1st and 2nd battalions remaining in the Division.

Subordinate units

The regiment was a composite of three different types of battalions and a headquarters and service company:

History

World War II

LVT-2 assault landing ramp conceived and constructed by the Seabees to facilitate the landing and outflanking of the defenses on Tinian.(Seabee Museum)

18th Marines was activated on 8 September 1942 and participated in actions at Tarawa, Saipan and Tinian. It was inactivated on 16 August 1944.

On Tinian there were two small beaches on the North end where an assault landing could be made with low coral ledges. The rest of the island had coral cliffs up to 15 feet in height at the waters edge negating any assault plans. However, the Marine Corps asked the Seabees if they could come up with an idea to get over the coral. Commodore Paul J. Halloran (CEC) CB theater commander provided drawings of a conceptual landing ramp for the 18th and 121st CBs to fabricate. They mounted steel beams salvaged from Saipan's abandoned sugar mill on LVT-2s to create a portable assault ramps. If they worked they would allow the Marines to outflank Tinian's prepared defenses. The Marine Generals was skeptical and ordered that the ramps be put through a 100 vehicle use tests. The Seabee creation was named a Doodlebug. It worked exactly as the Marines had hoped.

Commanders

Unit awards

  Presidential Unit Citation with blue enamel star : – Tarawa

See also

References

  1. ^ 18th Naval Construction Battalion history, Seabee Museum, Port Hueneme, CA 93043. p.70
  2. ^ U.S. Marine Corps World War II Order of Battle Fleet Marine Force Ground Units, Rottman p. 220
  3. ^ Battle Orders - US Marine Corps Pacific Theater of Operations 1943-44, Gordon L Rottman, Osprey Publishing, p. 13
  4. ^ a b c Rottman, Gordon L. (2002). US Marine Corps World War II order of battle : ground and air units in the Pacific War, 1939–1945, p. 218 (1 ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 218–220. ISBN 9780313319068.
  5. ^ a b c d The Doodlebug, Naval History and Heritage Command, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum webpage, Port Hueneme, Ca,
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i NAVMC 2922 of 7 May 2012, DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY, HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS, 2008 ELLIOT ROAD, QUANTICO, VIRGINIA 22134-5030 Archived 2018-07-30 at the Wayback Machine

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