Striking 3/9 reactivated

After a 14-year hiatus, unit expected to deploy in 2009

May 20, 2008 - 11:21PM

LINDELL KAY

THE DAILY NEWS

After a 14-year hiatus, the Striking 3/9 is back and ready to join the global war on terror.

From island-hopping in the Pacific to fighting in the scorching deserts of the Middle East, the 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment has a lengthy history of answering the nation's call.

"Bless once again the Striking 3/9," prayed U.S. Navy Cdr. Harry Griffith, the unit's acting chaplain, during the invocation at Tuesday's reactivation ceremony.

"Let their enemies quake in fear and their allies rejoice in their joining the fight."

Strong winds and a light rain did not hamper the event as the battalion reformed with the uncasing of its flags and a pass in review parade at W.P.T. Hill Field aboard Camp Lejeune.

Thunder rumbled in the distance as the 3/9 marched past officials, family and former members of the battalion.

The 3/9 is expected to deploy in 2009 in support of the global war on terror, said Lt. Col. Daniel Q. Greenwood, the battalion's commander.  "Operational tempo is very high right now in the Marine Corps," Greenwood said. "The 3/9 has already been given a mission, and we will begin training and preparation for that mission."

After the ceremony, veterans of the 3/9 who traveled from all over the United States to watch their unit be reactivated spoke to the newest battalion members. 

Raymond Morgan traveled from Neptune, N.J., to witness to ceremony. He served in the 3/9 during World War II. "I am choked up," Morgan said. "Seeing this brings back so many memories."

Robert W. Gilsinger hit the beach with the 3/9 at Guam during World War II.

"Right now I am very emotional and very proud," he said. "I always hoped to see this before I died."

Retired Lt. Col. Tom Scheib, who now lives in Milltown, Wis., was a captain in Lima Company, 3/9 during the Vietnam War. He said he took the news hard in 1994 when he heard the 3/9 had been deactivated.

"Finding out the 3/9 was taken off line really hurt, but watching it come back on line makes my heart pound," he said. "The 3/9 is like family, closer to me than my real family. These are my brothers. When you have been shot at with someone and bled with them and watched some of them die, they become your family."

Scheib said the 3/9 still has one Marine missing in action from the Vietnam War.

"I am here because he couldn't be," Scheib said.

The 9th Marine Regiment was formed in 1917 and disbanded two years later. >From 1925 to 1937, the regiment acted as a reserve training unit.

During World War II, the 3/9 was reorganized as part of the 2nd Marine Division. The 3/9 saw action in Bougainville, the northern Solomons, Guam and Iwo Jima. At the Battle of Iwo Jima, the 3/9 made the only battalion-sized, unsupported nonilluminated night attack against the Japanese during the war. The battalion members received the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions at Iwo Jima.

In 1965, the 3/9 became the first battalion-sized ground combat unit deployed to Vietnam and one of the last to leave in 1975. The 3/9 participated in Desert Storm in 1991 and Operation Restore Hope in Somalia in 1992 before being deactivated in 1994.