Existing comment:
Send in the Marines:
On December 7, 1941, the Marine Corps air base at Ewa Field became the first installation bombed by the Japanese during their attack on Pearl Harbor. Beginning in 1942, the Marines and Navy bore the brunt of fighting in the Pacific, demonstrating the viability of cooperative amphibious assaults as they attacked and captured island after island. The fighting was bloody and intense; by 1945, more than 19,000 Marines were dead and 67,000 wounded. With each vicious campaign, names like Guadalcanal, Tarawa, Bougainville, and Iwo Jima became synonymous with the courage, spirit, and determination that define the Corps to this day. |