Current Units
The regiment was composed of three infantry battalions and one headquarters battalion:
- Headquarters Battalion 1st Marines (HQ/9)
- 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9) attached to 8th Marine Regiment
- 2nd Battalion 9th Marines (2/9) attached to 8th Marine Regiment
- 3rd Battalion 9th Marines (3/9) (Not yet activated)
History
Early years
The 9th Marines were activated at Quantico, Virginia on November 20, 1917. A month later, they deployed to Cuba and were attached to the 3rd Marine Brigade. That same month, they redeployed with the brigade to Galveston, Texas in case of any German operation in the Caribbean or in Mexico. After World War I, the regiment was deactivated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 25, 1919.
World War II
The 3rd Battalion 9th Marines was reactivated at Camp Elliot, San Diego on February 12, 1942. In the following months, the rest of the battalions were also reactivated on January 1, 1942 when the regiment officially re-formed. They attached to the 3rd Marine Division at Camp Pendleton on September 16, 1943. The Regiment was deactivated at Camp Pendleton on December 31, 1945.
Vietnam War
On March 8, 1965, 9th Marines came ashore at China Beach as the first conventional ground combat unit in South Vietnam. Their mission was to defend the air base at Da Nang. The first significant contact was in April 1965. The regimental headquarters arrived in country in July of that year.
The Regiment saw action in Vietnam’s I Corps, primarily in Quang Tri and Thua Thien provinces, although a number of its earlier operations were also conducted in the southern I Corps provinces of Quang Nam, Quang Tin, and Quang Ngai. The 9th Marines served as a vital stop to the North Vietnamese penetrations across the DMZ and from along the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Cambodia.
Some of its early operations included Double Eagle, Macon and Prairie.
In April and May 1967, elements of the regiment defeated two NVA Regiments in the Hills north of Khe Sanh). In Operation Buffalo, elements of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines made contact north of Con Thien with regimental-size NVA forces in an engagement that lasted through May, accounting for over 1300 enemy dead.
In one of the most successful operations of the war, the regiment conducted Operation Dewey Canyon in the A Shau Valley, cut by the Song Da Krong river. The 9th Regiment exacted a deadly toll on the NVA. These actions precluded another build-up and assault from Route 622 from Laos into South Vietnam as the NVA had the year before during the Tet Offensive.
Operation Dewey Canyon netted, among other weaponry, 16 artillery pieces, 73 anti-aircraft guns, hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, 92 trucks, and hundreds of thousands pounds of rice.
In the words of Gen Stillwell in his report to Gen Abrams on Operation Dewey Canyon:
“...this ranks with the most significant undertakings of the Vietnam conflict in the concept and results...”
The 9th Marines were redeployed from Vietnam in August 1969 as part of the first redeployments.
Reactivation
Plans called for the reactivation of 1st Battalion, 9th Marines (1/9) on April 18th, 2007. The 2d Battalion will stand up some time in 2007, while the 3d Battalion, will reactivate in fiscal year 2008.