United States Marines History

Written by Robert Leckie, whose wartime exploits are featured in the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg HBO miniseries The Pacific, Strong Men Armed is the perennial bestselling classic account of the U.S. Marines' relentless drive through the Pacific during World War II.

On November 20, 1943, in the first trial by fire of America’s fledgling amphibious assault doctrine, 5,000 men stormed the beaches of Tarawa, a seemingly invincible Japanese island fortress barely the size of the 300-acre Pentagon parking lots. Before the first day ended, one-third of the marines who had crossed Tarawa’s deadly reef under murderous fire were killed, wounded, or missing. In three days of fighting, four Americans would win the Medal of Honor and six thousand combatants would die.

John Edmund Delezen felt a kinship with the people he was instructed to kill in Vietnam; they were all at the mercy of the land. His memoir begins when he enlisted in the Marine Corps and was sent to Vietnam in March of 1967. He volunteered for the Third Force Recon Company, whose job it was to locate and infiltrate enemy lines undetected and map their locations and learn details of their status. The duty was often painful both physically and mentally. He was stricken with malaria in November of 1967, wounded by a grenade in February of 1968, and hit by a bullet later that summer.

After Tripoli declared war on the United States in 1801, Barbary pirates captured 300 U.S. sailors and marines. President Jefferson sent navy squadrons to the Mediterranean, but he also authorized a secret mission to overthrow the government of Tripoli. He chose an unlikely diplomat, William Eaton, to lead the mission, but before Eaton departed, Jefferson grew wary of the affair and withdrew his support.

Learn about the roles of Marines and their training, as well as the advanced equipment, aircraft, and weapons the Marines use to complete their tough missions.

Richard Edward Carey came from a broken home. Enlisting in the Corps in 1946 he later earned a commission, fighting at Inchon and Chosin in Korea before becoming a pilot. During his thirty-eight-year military career he witnessed and participated in major historical events, though a high school wrestling injury would eliminate him from the Mercury-7 space program. As a second lieutenant, he tackled General Douglas MacArthur on the way to Seoul in 1950. Carey would provide critical intelligence decisions enabling the successful defense of the Chinese attack on Hagaru-ri at the Chosin Reservoir.

On July 1, 1916, witnesses watched in horror as twenty-eight-year-old Charles Vansant was attacked and killed by a shark in shallow water off Beach Haven, New Jersey—the first recorded shark attack in American history. Scientists claimed a shark could not be responsible, but more deadly attacks soon followed along the Jersey Shore and up the freshwater Matawan Creek, setting off a nationwide panic that led the White House to declare a “War on Sharks.”

America, anni Venti. Jordan Baker cresce negli ambienti più raffinati. Non le manca nulla: denaro, istruzione, la stoffa per il golf e inviti alle feste più esclusive dell'Età del Jazz. Queer e asiatica è in realtà guardata dall'alta società come poco più che un'attrazione esotica, e non può accedere a ciò che conta davvero. Ma il mondo è pieno di meraviglie: patti diabolici, illusioni sfolgoranti, fantasmi perduti e il potere arcano degli elementi. Jordan deve solo imparare a usarli.

En Las Guerras Indias Americanas: Una guía fascinante de los conflictos que ocurrieron en América del Norte y su impacto en las tribus nativas americanas, incluyendo eventos como la masacre de Sand Creek.

This dynamic collection of Black voices, performed by Tony and Grammy Award-winning actor, rapper, and producer Daveed Diggs and Emmy Award-winning writer, creator, producer, and actor Lena Waithe, works like an incantation of origin, healing, and imagination. Born from a series of conceptual art exhibitions, the perspectives gathered here are nowhere near monochromatic.

Una guía fascinante de los conflictos que ocurrieron en América del Norte y su impacto en las tribus nativas americanas.

La masacre de Wounded Knee generalmente se pasa por alto en los libros de texto, hablando del evento de manera generalizada. Pero una representación tan generalizada socava el impacto real y la importancia de los eventos que sucedieron en ese fatídico día, convirtiéndolo en uno de los eventos más trágicos en la historia de los nativos americanos.

The fighting prowess of United States Marines is second to none, but few know of the Corps' humble beginnings and what it achieved during the early years of the American Revolution. That oversight is fully rectified by Jason Bohm's eye-opening Washington's Marines: The Origins of the Corps and the American Revolution, 1775-1777.

A partir de una experiencia personal con la taxidermia, y rodeado de anécdotas sobre el traslado de huesos, Cristóbal Marín narra en esta crónica las peripecias de su viaje en búsqueda de información sobre el paradero y destino de los fueguinos que murieron tanto en Londres como Europa durante el siglo XIX luego de ser expuestos en zoológicos humanos y ferias o llevados, siempre contra su voluntad, para ser analizados por científicos y anatomistas y, en algunos casos, educados en los valores occidentales con el propósito de que regresara "civilizados" a sus tierras.

Russell Vineyard joined the United States Marine Corps as an M1A1 Tank crewman. After USMC Boot Camp and Marine Armor School, Vineyard found himself at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Training and Education Facility Twentynine Palms with 1st Tank Battalion. In November of 2004, he learned he'd be joining the Marine Corps' 1st Tank Battalion, Delta Company as a tank gunner and headed out on the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. The United States Military would send the tank platoon across the ocean to participate in a global military exercise in Egypt and to fight the War on Terror in Iraq.

The saga of the flags on Iwo Jima has fascinated America for decades. Hammel himself grew up in the company of WWII veterans and has always been intrigued by the photo of the flag, which became a powerful symbol of patriotism and national pride. But the story of how the flag got there, and even the identity of the soldiers in the photo, has been muddied by history. Eric Hammel here sets the record straight, viewing complex events through the lens of the story of the infantry company in which all the flag raisers served.

The US Marines are a powerful military force. But there is more to these elite fighters than you might imagine. These surprising facts about the US Marine Corps will amaze you.