Military

1st Battalion, 8th Marines

Activated 1 April 1940 at San Diego, California, the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines was assigned to the 2d Marine Brigade. The 2d Marine Brigade was re-designated 1 February 1941 as 2d Marine Division. The Battalion was assigned during December 1941 to 2d Marine Brigade, 2d Marine Division. Deployed during January 1942 to American Samoa and detached from the 2d Marine Division, the Battalion participated in the following World War II campaigns: Guadalcanal; Tarawa; Saipan; Tinian; and Okinawa. It deployed during September 1945 to Nagasaki, Japan, and participated in the occupation of Japan, September 1945 - June 1946. The Battalion relocated during June-July 1946 to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, and was deactivated 18 November 1947.

The Battalion was reactivated 1 November 1950 at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, as the 1st Battalion, 8th Marines and assigned to the 2d Marine Division. It deployed to the Mediterranean and the Caribbean at various times from the 1950s through the 1990s. It participated in the landings on Lebanon, July-September 1958, the Cuban Missile Crisis, October-December 1962, and the intervention in the Dominican Republic, May-June 1965. It participated in numerous training exercises throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

The Battalion participated as part of the multinational peace keeping force in Lebanon, May - November 1983, and it participated in Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm, Southwest Asia, December 1990 - April 1991. Elements participated in support of Operation Provide Promise and Deny Flight, Bosnia, September - October 1993 and January 1994, Operation Sea Signal, Cuba, June- July 1994, and in support of Operation Support Democracy, Caribbean Area, May - July 1994.

The 22d MEU's ground combat element (GCE) for the LF6F 1-01 deployment was Battalion Landing Team (BLT) 1/8 (1st Battalion/8th Marines), consisting of an infantry battalion, reinforced by artillery, combat engineers, assault amphibian vehicles, light armored vehicles, main battle tanks, reconnaissance personnel and communicators.

1st Battalion, 8th Marines, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004. It returned hom on January 28-30, 2005, after spending seven months battling insurgents in Iraq.