Compass Points - Regiments
Remembering 9th Marines
Compass Points - Regiments
Remembering 9th Marines
May 4, 2025
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Sunday is a good day for reflection. And this Sunday is a particularly good day to reflect on Truman R. Strobridge
Over the last week, Compass Points readers have generated online and off a cornucopia of comments, insights, and analysis. Compass Points salutes all readers who in their own ways are continuing to build the discussion about a stronger Marine Corps, and also thanks all our readers who served as seminar leaders this week by providing topics, articles, and comments. In the last week alone, the articles, posts, and topics have stimulated more than one hundred comments, questions, corrections, suggestions, and additions. Many thanks!
The Marine community on Compass Points spans the generations, spans every rank and MOS. The Marine Corps is not just the Marines on active duty today, the Marine Corps includes all the Marines who were once on active duty and all those who will earn the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor in the years to come.
Marines are linked together through the history and traditions of the Corps. Much of the history of the Corps is stored and transmitted through Marine regiments as John Thomason makes clear:
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There is nothing particularly glorious about sweaty fellows, laden with killing tools, going along to fight. And yet-such a column represents a great deal more than 28,000 individuals mustered into a division. All that is behind those men is in that column too: the old battles, long forgotten, that secured our nation -- Brandywine and Trenton and Yorktown, San Jacinto and Chapultepec, Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Antietam, El Caney; scores of skirmishes, far off, such as the Marines have nearly every year in which a man can be killed as dead as ever a chap in the Argonne; traditions of things endured and things accomplished, such as regiments hand down forever; and the faith of men and the love of women; and that abstract thing called patriotism, which I never heard combat soldiers mention -- all this passes into the forward zone, to the point of contact, where war is grit with horrors. Common men endure these horrors and overcome them, along with the insistent yearnings of the belly and the reasonable promptings of fear; and in this, I think, is glory.”
― John Thomason
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". . . such as regiments hand down forever . . . "
Regiments are special in the Marine Corps. Even temporary regiments are important.
Truman R. Strobridge is the author of "A Brief History of the 9th Marines." The 9th Marine Regiment was activated at Quantico, Virginia, on November 20, 1917 for a variety of missions during World War I. The 9th Marines was deactivated in 2019 and then reactivated as a reserve training unit in 1925. During World War II the 9th Marines fought at Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. Deactivated at the end of World War II, the regiment was reactivated for Korea. Years later on March 8, 1965, the 9th Marine Regiment came ashore at Red Beach as the first conventional ground combat unit in South Vietnam, their mission was to defend the Da Nang Air Base. Later the 9th Marines successful conducted Operation Dewey Canyon in the A Shau Valley.
In 1994 9th Marines was inactivated. Years later in 2007 the battalions of the 9th Marines were reactivated and assigned to other regiments. Over the years, ten Marines from the 9th Marines have received the Medal of Honor.
Even though the 9th Marine regiment was always a temporary regiment, activated and deactivated again and again, still it is and always will be a valued part of the history of the Marine Corps. Every Marine regiment should be valued. Each Marine regiment is not only an important source and reservoir of Marine combat power but also a source and reservoir of Marine Corps history.
It is unfortunate that over the last several years, a few Marine leaders have failed to display an understanding of the importance of Marine regiments. Marine regiments have had their combat power stripped from them. The regiments have also had their names stripped from them. Why have Marine regiments, the source and reservoir of both Marine combat power and Marine history be treated so cavalierly by Marine leadership? Marine regiments should be cherished, not chopped to pieces.
Compass Points salutes Truman R. Strobridge who worked to preserve forever the history of the 9th Marines.
While the 9th Marines maybe be gone today, it is not too late to restore the great 3d, 12th, and 4th Marine regiments. Marine regiments are special. They should be treated with care. It is time to restore and reactivate the 3d, 12th, and 4th Marines. If the regiments need new weapons and equipment, add new weapons and equipment, but keep the great Marine regiments intact. It is not too late to reactivate.
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A Brief History of the 9th Marines
Marine Corps, U.S. & Truman R. Strobridge
Published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Washington, D.C., 20013
22 years in our Corps and C 1/9 is the proudest and most cherished time I served. Every Marine there took pride in the history of 9th Marines and everyone was dedicated to maintaining the proud history passed to us. Too bad our Commandants have gutted our Corps.
in the spring of 1969 as part of the Dewy canyon operation out of Vandegrift combat base with
Since Compass Point is referring to the history of the 9th Marines, below is a small part of that history.
As part of the Dewy Canyon operation in the spring of 1969 working out of Vandegrift combat base with the 9th Marines in I corps Vietnam, one of the many events was a 350 troop insertion with 4 CH-53s and 12 CH-46s into Laos for the 9th Marines to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
As part of this troop insertion with 40 combat 9th Marines aboard our CH53. We were about 40 miles northwest of Khe Sanh when the aircraft lost the #2 engine and we were unable to maintain altitude at max power on the #1 engine. The main flight continued on as we left the flight an turned the aircraft around and headed back to Khe Sanh. We were 1500 feet above the valley floor and descending at 500 feet/minute. I ordered the crew chief to crank open the automatic fuel control above the 643-degree topping power to generate more power. At center cabin the crew chief threw a 9th marine off the seat to reach the screw driver engine slot to begin opening the fuel control. It takes 3 turns for each degree raised. As the crew chief increased the temp the sink rate started back up. At 50 feet off the valley floor, we finally reached level flight at 750 degrees engine temperature. This stopped our crash decent but we were now burning up the #1 engine and we had 10 miles back to Khe Sanh with another 40 miles back to Quang Tri. At that moment emergency #2 occurred when we lost the larger #2 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos, the automatic flight control servos and half the tail rotor servo. We still had flight control with the smaller #1 hydraulic pump that runs half of the primary servos and half of the tail rotor servo. With just the small #1 hydraulic pump running the primary servos we experienced hydraulic lock up in the flight controls if they were moved too quickly because the pump can’t move the fluid volume fast enough. The pucker factor was peeking with these 2 emergencies and 46 lives at steak. Below 120 knots the aircraft would start to settle so when we reached Khe Sanh the runway was too short to do a 120-knot run on landing. The 53 has parking brakes, not stopping brakes and we would have run off the end of the runway and crashed in a big ball of fire so we proceeded on to Quang Tri which had a 3000-foot runway. Somehow the #1 engine did not fail running it over 20+ minutes. These engines are only to be run at topping power (643 degrees) for 1 minute and we ran this one for 20+ minutes at 750 degrees.
We felt good that all 40 9th Marines were safe and could be taken back to Vandegrift later.