[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 84 (Tuesday, May 16, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E638]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





            ACHIEVEMENTS OF U.S. MARINE CORPS IN WORLD WAR I

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                          HON. WALTER B. JONES

                           of north carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 16, 2017

  Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, I proudly rise today to recognize the U.S. 
Marine Corps' achievements in World War I. At the entry of the United 
States into World War I, the Marine Corps was relatively small and 
relegated to ship-borne duty and small expeditionary outposts in far 
flung locations, such as China and the Caribbean, numbering less than 
14,000 officers and men. By the end of the war, the Corps had swelled 
to more than 75,000; of which 30,000 were ground combat forces in 
France, and another 1,600 served with the U.S. Navy in Europe on board 
ships, on shore, and with the Navy's aviation force, the Northern 
Bombing Group.
  The 5th and 6th Regiments as well as the 6th Machine Gun Battalion 
formed the 4th Brigade under the U.S. Army's 2d Division in late 1917. 
Their baptism by fire came at Belleau Wood in June 1918 when the 2d 
Division halted the German advance toward Paris through three weeks of 
bloody fighting. The Marines continued to prove their mettle throughout 
the summer and fall of 1918 at Soissons, St. Mihiel, Blanc Mont, and 
Meuse-Argonne. At the end of the war, the 4th Brigade remained as part 
of the 3d Army, occupying Germany along the Rhine River.
  While the 4th Brigade battled the Germans, the 5th Brigade arrived in 
France and served as part of the Army's Service of Supply to the entire 
American Expeditionary Forces, as well as provided a pool of 
replacements to the 4th Brigade. The First Marine Aviation Force 
(FMAF), as part of the Northern Bombing Group, arrived in late summer 
1918 and operated over the English Channel and Belgian coast from 
Calais, France, conducting antisubmarine patrols, bombing German 
submarine pens, and even providing close air support and food drops to 
Entente troops in Belgium. On a smaller scale, the First Marine 
Aeronautic Company conducted antisubmarine patrols out of Ponta 
Delgada, Azores.
  In the six months of fighting on the Western Front, the Marine Corps 
suffered approximately 12,000 casualties; 8 Marines earned the Medal of 
Honor, and another 152 Marines earned the Navy Cross. The Marine 
reputation as a fierce fighting force was well earned, and whether on 
``land, air, or sea,'' the American people can be undeniably proud of 
the performance of their Marine Corps in World War I.

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