The 1st Marine Division on Friday, Feb. 5, celebrated its 80th anniversary and commemorated the lineage of the Marine Corps’ largest ground unit.
The event held at Camp Pendleton recognized the division’s achievements and history as the oldest and most decorated in the Marine Corps.
The unit has earned nine Presidential Unit Citations and its service members have earned 86 Medals of Honor — the nation’s highest military decoration for bravery.
Typically, the ceremony held at the 1st Marine Division Headquarters includes hundreds of veterans from across Southern California and beyond. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the celebration this week was kept to just 100 Marines on the base.
The ceremony, however, went on as usual and included a re-dedication of the division battle colors with awards and campaign streamers earned in places such as Guadalcanal, Okinawa, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
The event, which was also live-streamed, featured a performance by the 1st Marine Division band and comments from Maj. Gen. Roger B. Turner, Jr., the division’s commanding general.
“I am really proud of where we are,” Turner said. “The changes we are making and the training we are doing, I think, has the division really well postured for the future.”
The division is a combat-ready force of 25,000 Marines and sailors and was activated on Feb. 1. 1941. It deploys infantry, artillery, mechanized and support elements throughout the world.
Randy McMahon, of San Clemente, is proud to be a veteran of the division. He served at Camp Del Mar on Camp Pendleton from 1976 to 1980.
“It’s nice to know I’m part of this history,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of good memories. Just jumping out of a perfectly good airplane is one of them.”
It was also while he was in the 1st Marine Division that a buddy introduced him to his wife, Linda. They have been married for more than 40 years.
That’s what he called his “one favorite memory.”
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