NUMBER OF MARINES SAILING FROM THE UNITED STATES TO EUROPE
FOR DUTY WITH THE AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES AND FOR SHORE DUTY WITH THE NAVAL SERVICE.
There were 834 officers, not including observers, and 30,481 enlisted men, or a total of 31,315 Marines, sent overseas for shore duty with the American Expeditionary Forces and naval service. The following tables give details:
For duty with American Expeditionary Forces.
| Month of departure from United States. | Officers. | Enlisted men. | Total. |
| May, 1917 | [4]2 | .. | 2 |
| June, 1917 | 70 | 2,689 | 2,759 |
| July, 1917 | 29 | 1,054 | 1,083 |
| September, 1917 | 27 | 1,045 | 1,072 |
| October, 1917 | 45 | 1,536 | 1,581 |
| December, 1917 | 23 | 637 | 660 |
| January, 1918 | 31 | 1,031 | 1,062 |
| February,1918 | 24 | 1,041 | 1,065 |
| March, 1918 | 23 | 1,034 | 1,057 |
| April, 1918 | 22 | 1,284 | 1,306 |
| May, 1918 | 24 | 1,565 | 1,589 |
| June, 1918 | 6 | 751 | 757 |
| August, 1918 | 32 | 4,362 | 4,394 |
| September, 1918 | 172 | 5,275 | 5,447 |
| October, 1918 | 132 | 5,809 | 5,941 |
| Total | 662 | 29,113 | 29,775 |
[4] Accompanied Gen. Pershing.
Sixty officers of the Medical Corps, twelve officers of the Dental Corps, five hundred enlisted men of the Medical Corps, and eleven Chaplains, of the Navy, not included in the above figures, were sent to France and served with the Marines in the American Expeditionary Forces.
In addition to the above the Twelfth Replacement Battalion, consisting of 9 officers and 500 enlisted men, joined the American Expeditionary Forces in June, 1919.
For duty with naval service ashore
| Month of departure from United States. | Officers. | Enlisted men. | Total. |
| December, 1917 | 2 | 59 | 61 |
| January, 1918 | 13 | 172 | 185 |
| June, 1918 | 2 | 75 | 77 |
| July, 1918 | 107 | 654 | 761 |
| August, 1918 | 4 | 120 | 124 |
| September, 1918 | 44 | 288 | 332 |
| Total | 172 | 1,368 | 1,540 |
Chapter VIII.
OPERATIONS IN GENERAL.
While the battle operations of the Fourth Brigade as an infantry brigade of the Second Division of Regulars overshadowed all others taken part in by Marine Corps personnel, those operations were by no means the only ones participated in by officers and men of the Marine Corps.
The commanding general of the Second Division from early in August, 1918, to the date of demobilization, and several officers on his staff were Marine officers. Officers of the Marine Corps were at various times attached to the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Sixth, Twenty-sixth, Thirty-second, Thirty-fifth, Ninetieth, and Ninety-second Divisions, and in some cases engaged in operations with them. Brig. Gen. John A. Lejeune assumed command of the Sixty-fourth Infantry Brigade of the Thirty-second Division, then in the front line on the Swiss border in the Suarce sector, on July 5, 1918. He was in command of this brigade on July 22, 1918, when it was withdrawn from the above-mentioned sector and continued in command until July 25, 1918, when he left to command the Fourth Brigade of Marines. Between July 5, 1918, and July 22, 1918, Brig. Gen. Lejeune, in addition to the Sixty-fourth Brigade, commanded three French infantry regiments. Col. Robert H. Dunlap was in command of the Seventeenth Field Artillery Regiment of the Second Field Artillery Brigade, Second Division, from October 30, 1918, to February, 1919. Col. Hiram I. Bearss commanded the One hundred and second Regiment of the Fifty-first Infantry Brigade, Twenty-sixth Division, in the St. Mihiel offensive. Col. Frederic M. Wise commanded the Fifty-ninth Regiment of the Eighth Infantry Brigade, Fourth Division, from September 5, 1918, to January 4, 1919, during which period he participated in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne major operations. From January 1, 1919, to February 9, 1919, Col. Wise commanded the Eighth Infantry Brigade of the Fourth Division.
A few Marine officers and enlisted men engaged in Army aviation operations and suffered casualties. About 20 Marine officers were sent to France as observers and as such participated in operations with American, French, and British forces. Marine aviation personnel served in France as the Day Wing of the Northern Bombing Group of the Navy. Marine flyers served with Squadrons 213 (pursuit squadron), 217, and 218 (bombing squadrons), Royal Flying Corps of England; and with pursuit, observation, and bombing squadrons of the French Flying Corps. Quite a few casualties were suffered by the Marine aviation personnel.
The First Marine Aeronautic Company, naval base No. 13, Ponta Delgada, Azores, equipped for water flying only, performed patrol duty from January, 1918, until November 11, 1918.
The Marine Aviation Section, naval air station, Miami, Fla., performed arduous patrol duties in the Florida Straits in connection with the Navy from July, 1918, until the date the armistice went into effect.
Marine detachments served on board all the American battleships attached to the British Grand Fleet and also on the American battleships which based at Castletown Berehaven, Bantry Bay, Ireland. Marines also served on board many of the cruisers which escorted the vessels transporting Army troops to Europe. They were also attached to many other naval vessels such as the Brooklyn, Helena, and Wilmington, in China and Siberian waters, at one time landing at Vladivostok in conjunction with other naval forces; on the Galveston on the Murman Coast; and on the Pittsburgh in South American waters. Marines were also on the San Diego when that vessel was sunk, and the Minnesota when that ship was damaged by German mines. Marines were in intimate contact with the Germans in Guam and Philadelphia in conjunction with the Navy in the first hours of the war.
One brigade of Marines was held in readiness in Texas for possible trouble in Mexico which might endanger the Allies’ oil supply. Another was scattered throughout the island of Cuba. Large detachments of Marines were stationed in the Azores and Virgin Islands in the nature of advanced base forces, while an advanced base force at Philadelphia was available at all times for naval needs.
Marine forces were also stationed in Guam, Philippine Islands, Peking, Pearl Harbor, and Nicaragua and they assisted materially, under the limited conditions, in the war.
Active operations were conducted in Haiti and Santo Domingo against bandits during the period of the war by Marine forces, the Haitian Gendarmerie and the Guardia Nacional Dominicana, the two latter organizations being composed of natives and administered and officered by the Marine and Navy personnel. Casualties were suffered by Marines in the operations in Santo Domingo, 4 Marines being killed, 13 wounded, and 1 officer wounded, between April 6, 1917, and November 11, 1918.