50 Fun Facts About Marine Corps

The Continental Marines were formed on November 10, 1775, in which city?

Two battalions were raised as infantry able to fight both at sea and on shore; the Corps still celebrates November 10 as its birthday.

Which Philadelphia drinking house is traditionally regarded as the site of the Marines' first recruitment drive?

The same building is also considered a birthplace of Masonic teaching in America, hosting lodge meetings from 1732.

Roughly how many active-duty members did the Marine Corps have as of December 2024?

Plus around 33,000 in the reserve; the Corps sits within the Department of the Navy.

The Marine Corps motto Semper Fidelis has been official since which year?

It means 'always faithful'; John Philip Sousa's march of the same name became the Corps' official march.

The music of the Marines' Hymn comes from an 1867 work by which composer?

Authorised in 1929, it is the oldest official song in the US armed forces; the lyricist is unknown.

'The Halls of Montezuma' in the Marines' Hymn refers to which 1847 battle?

Marines stormed Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City; the castle was actually built by the Spanish, centuries after Montezuma.

'The shores of Tripoli' refers to which 1805 battle, reached after a 521-mile desert march?

Lieutenant Presley O'Bannon led the Marines alongside William Eaton's mercenary army in the First Barbary War.

The Mameluke sword worn by Marine officers commemorates a sword presented to Presley O'Bannon by whom?

Commandant Archibald Henderson adopted the sword for officers in 1825, and it has been worn almost continuously since 1826.

How wide is the scarlet 'blood stripe' on the dress-blue trousers of a Marine general officer?

Other officers get 1.5 inches and NCOs 1.125; the stripe honours the Marines killed storming Chapultepec Castle in 1847.

The Eagle, Globe and Anchor emblem was recommended by a board and approved in which year?

Commandant Jacob Zeilin appointed the board; the globe shows the Western Hemisphere and the anchor is 'fouled' in its rope.

The nickname 'leatherneck' comes from what item of early Marine uniform?

Its purpose was to protect against sword slashes and keep the head erect; the Corps' magazine is still called Leatherneck.

The 'Devil Dogs' nickname is tied to which 1918 battle, though no German ever actually used the phrase?

'Teufel Hunden' was invented by an American war correspondent, and 'Retreat, hell! We just got here' was said there too.

Which two Marines are the only ones to have earned two Medals of Honor for separate acts of valour?

Daly is also credited, probably apocryphally, with yelling 'Do you want to live forever?' at Belleau Wood.

After retiring, Smedley Butler wrote which 1935 anti-war book?

He argued that business interests drove the interventions he had personally fought in across Latin America.

How many Navy Crosses did Chesty Puller receive, making him the most decorated Marine in history?

Add an Army Distinguished Service Cross and he has six of the nation's second-highest valour award, behind only Eddie Rickenbacker.

Archibald Henderson, the 'Grand old man of the Marine Corps', served as Commandant for how long?

Thirty-nine years in the top job and more than 52 years in the Corps; every recruit learns his name in boot camp.

Which Commandant's 1921 Marine Corps Order 47 made November 10 the official Marine Corps birthday?

Before that, Marines had celebrated July 11, the 1798 re-establishment date, with little ceremony.

Marine Barracks Washington, the oldest post in the Corps, sits at the corner of which two streets?

Thomas Jefferson picked the site on horseback in 1801; it has been the Commandant's residence since 1806.

The United States Marine Band, 'The President's Own', was established by Congress in which year?

It is the oldest professional musical organisation in the country; John Philip Sousa was among its leaders.

How many Marines make up the Silent Drill Platoon?

The rifle platoon is led by a captain and a platoon sergeant and performs without verbal commands.

Recruits living east of the Mississippi River report to which recruit depot for boot camp?

Those west of the river go to MCRD San Diego; a separate command for training female recruits was set up at Parris Island in 1949.

MCRD San Diego moved to its current site in 1923 from which earlier location?

By 2022 more than 1.5 million recruits had graduated there, at a rate of over 21,000 a year.

Camp Pendleton, built in 1942, lies near which Southern California city?

It occupies the old Rancho Santa Margarita lands between Los Angeles and San Diego.

Which Marine base in Virginia is also home to the FBI Academy?

HMX-1, the squadron that flies Marine One, is based there as well.

Which Marine squadron operates the Marine One presidential helicopters?

The 'White Tops' are the VH-3D Sea King and the newer VH-92A Patriot.

Joe Rosenthal's Pulitzer-winning photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima was taken on which date?

It shows the second, larger flag raised on Mount Suribachi that day; a Marine cameraman's colour film proved it was not staged.

The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, sculpted by Felix de Weldon, was dedicated in which year?

Its inscription reads 'Uncommon Valor Was a Common Virtue', Admiral Nimitz's tribute to the Marines on Iwo Jima.

Which Navy Secretary said the Iwo Jima flag-raising "means a Marine Corps for the next five hundred years"?

He had come ashore that morning to watch the fighting on the island.

On what date did the Guadalcanal campaign begin with Allied landings?

Codenamed Operation Watchtower, it ran six months until February 1943 and mixed land, sea and air battles.

The first African American Marines trained from 1942 at a segregated camp in which North Carolina town?

Camp Montford Point sat beside Camp Lejeune; the veterans received Congressional Gold Medal replicas in 2012.

Who proposed using the Navajo language for Marine Corps codes at the start of World War II?

He was a Los Angeles civil engineer raised on the reservation as a missionary's son; the term 'code talker' was coined by the Corps.

Which general wrote the Rifleman's Creed, first published in the Marine Corps Chevron in 1942?

He wanted every Marine to understand that the rifle, not the ship or the plane, was the weapon that would win the war.

What nickname was given to the 30,000 UN troops who fought out of a frozen North Korean reservoir in 1950?

Chinese forces surprised X Corps on November 27; Chesty Puller's 1st Marines helped fight the road open at Koto-ri.

The 2004 Second Battle of Fallujah was the heaviest urban combat for Marines since which Vietnam battle?

Codenamed Phantom Fury, it was the bloodiest battle of the Iraq War for US forces.

Which Marine aviator became the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7 in 1962?

A World War II and Korea combat pilot, he later served 24 years as a US senator from Ohio.

Who is recognised as the first woman to enlist in the Marine Corps, joining the reserve in August 1918?

She served through the end of the First World War in a clerical post at Headquarters Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps Marathon, 'the People's Marathon', is unusual among big races for what reason?

Founded in 1976 and run the last Sunday in October, it is the largest race in the world without a purse and has no entry lottery.

Toys for Tots was founded in 1947 by reservist Major Bill Hendricks in which city?

His wife had tried to donate a homemade Raggedy Ann doll and found no charity to take it; the first drive collected 5,000 toys.

The battle cry 'Oorah' is often traced to Marines imitating what sound aboard the submarine USS Perch?

Reconnaissance Marines training on the boat from 1949 copied the horn's 'arrugha'; John Massaro later spread it as a drill instructor.

The Marine Corps is a service branch within which cabinet-level organisation?

Marines and sailors have shared a department since the 18th century, which is why Navy corpsmen serve with Marine units.

Which Marine captain is credited with 'Retreat, hell! We just got here' in June 1918?

His battalion commander, Major Frederic Wise, later claimed the line for himself.

How many US flags were raised on Mount Suribachi on the day of the famous photograph?

Rosenthal photographed the second, a larger replacement flag raised by different Marines than the first.

In what year was Chesty Puller born, in West Point, Virginia?

He retired in 1955 after 37 years and died in 1971 at 73; recruits still end the day with 'Good night, Chesty, wherever you are.'

Roughly how many toys did the Marine Corps Reserve's Christmas toy program distribute in its first year, 1947?

Collection bins were placed outside Warner Bros. movie theatres.

Where did the Continental Marines make their first amphibious landing, on 3 March 1776?

Commodore Hopkins landed 234 Marines and about fifty seamen on New Providence to assault Fort Montagu, raiding for gunpowder for Washington's army.

What colour was the coat prescribed for Continental Marines in the 1776 uniform regulations?

The short coat had white facings and a high leather collar to guard against cutlass slashes, the origin of 'leatherneck'.

Which Marine lieutenant led the 86-man detachment that arrested John Brown at Harpers Ferry in 1859?

Overall command went to Colonel Robert E. Lee and his aide J.E.B. Stuart, both on leave in Washington when President Buchanan gave the order.

Which lieutenant began Marine aviation by reporting to Annapolis in May 1912?

Marine aviators later pioneered close air support for ground troops during the Banana Wars in Haiti.

Which president called the Marines 'the Navy's police force' with a propaganda machine like Stalin's?

His 1950 outburst came as Defense Secretary Louis Johnson tried to strip the Corps of its aviation; the 1952 Douglas-Mansfield Bill later guaranteed three divisions and air wings.

What was the 1956 Ribbon Creek incident at Parris Island?

It forced widespread changes in recruit training, including closer supervision of drill instructors through series commanders.