For you Marines who don't know they did make "Band of Brothers, Pacific" which deals with the Corps.
In the original Band of Brothers series the 503rd Regiment saw almost continuous combat duty from D Day until the wars end. Some of the original members were with the unit from it's formation until the wars end. When they made the Pacific they decided to make it the same number of episodes. What they didn't research was the fact that the Marines were put onto an island, they stayed until the Army took over or the island was secured. Then they had, some times long breaks to rest, refit, absorb new Marines and train before the next island. Once the Marines were up to 5 or 6 divisions the last division in combat didn't take part in the next invasion unless it was one of the bigger islands. Also with repeated landings many Marine units had no original survivors who stayed with the same unit through the entire war. Often when wounded they wound up in other units. The Marines also rotated guys who had been in combat back to the states to help form new units. So it's hard to track a company of Marines that went through boot camp then deployed to war and survived intact as a unit. With the 503rd it was easy. They went into combat in June 1944 and it wasn't a year later when the war in Europe was over. The 1st Marine Division invaded Guadalcanal in 42 and was still in the Pacific when the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
The 1st marine Division spent a total of 4 months and 2 days on Guadalcanal, From the 26 of Dec 43 until sometime in Feb 44, so about 2 months. One month in Peleliu and then Okinawa for 3 months from the 1st of Apr until the end of June 45. That's a total of about 10 months in combat yet in the combat zone for 4 years.
The 1st Marines left Guadalcanal in Dec 42 and did not go back into combat until Dec 1943. They were redeployed again in Feb 44 for 2 months and then had a break until Sep 44 when they again went into combat for one month. They did not go into combat again until April 45. This is where there was a good deal of resentment from some members of the Army who invaded North Africa in 42, Sicily in 43 and Italy in 43. Most of those units fought on until the German surrender. Many thought that the Marines got too much glory.
This is not a reflection of my thoughts but from WWII Vet I have known.
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Today's Featured Article - Restoration Story: Fordson Major - by Anthony West. George bought his Fordson Major from a an implement sale about 18 years ago for £200.00 (UK). There is no known history regarding its origins or what service it had done, but the following work was undertaken alone to bring it up to show standard. From the engine number, it was found that this Major was produced late 1946. It was almost complete but had various parts that would definitely need replacing.
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