The realities of the Korean War brought major changes in the
basing and deployment of Marine Corps forces. The Corps strength
ballooned to 192,000 men in June 1951, to 232,000 a year later and
nearly 250,000 by June 1953. More than half the troops actually served
in the operating forces, and the 1st Marine Division and 1st MAW,
operationally employed in Korea, were kept up to strength. In the
meantime, the 2d Marine Division and 2d MAW reached full strength for
their European contingencies. In June 1951 Headquarters activated the
3d Marine Brigade, built around the 3d Marines at Camp Pendleton. In
1952 the brigade expanded to become the 3d Marine Division, and the
same year the 3d MAW formed and occupied a new base in Miami. In
another important reorganization, Headquarters in 1951 formed an
organization known as Force Troops in order to provide the heavy
artillery and other combat support and combat service support units
necessary to sustain a Marine division in a land war.
The three-division/three-wing force structure decreed by the
June 1952 passage of the Douglas-Mansfield Act, gave legislative
support to the stated roles and missions of the Corps. The defense
assumptions and programs of the Eisenhower Administration, however,
left the Marine Corps role, and the corresponding basing and deployment
strategy, less clearly defined. The emphasis on strategic forces over
conventional forces, coupled with domestic economic implications of
high defense costs and unbalanced federal budgets, challenged Marine
Corps leaders of this period.
During the years 1953 to 1955, significant changes in the basing and
deployment of Marine forces were realized. The 3d Marine Division
deployed from Camp Pendleton to the Far East in the summer of 1953.
Based in Japan, the Division followed regimental landings in Japan and
Okinawa with a full-dress division landing exercise on Iwo Jima in
March 1954. Significantly, the division began redeploying from Japan to
Okinawa in 1955 and by February
History4
