The 2d Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (2d AAA Bn) was a

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

unit that served during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Formed in 1940 as the 2d Defense Battalion, its original mission was to provide air and coastal defense for advanced naval bases. During the war the battalion defended

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

Tutuila Tutuila is the largest and most populous island of American Samoa and is part of the archipelago of the Samoan Islands. It is the third largest island in the Samoan Islands chain of the Central Pacific. It is located roughly northeast of Brisba ...

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

and

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

and took part in combat operations at

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Kiribati, Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''The World ...

and

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

. The battalion returned to the United States after the war and was decommissioned at

Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by O ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on 28 November 1945.

History

Formation and early training

The 2d Defense Battalion was commissioned on March 1, 1940, at

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

. Lieutenant Colonel Bertram A. Bone was the first commanding officer of the battalion. Because of the Marine Corps' rapid growth beginning in 1939, there was a great deal of movement amongst leadership as the institution struggled to keep pace. This led to the battalion having five commanding officers by the time the war began in December 1941. The battalion was the only defense battalion still stateside when war broke out. It deployed to Hawaii in December 1941 and quickly prepared for follow on tasking. The battalion arrived in

in January 1942 to assist the 7th Defense Battalion with air and coastal defense of the region.

Battle of Tarawa, training on Hawaii and Guam

In November 1943 the 2d Defense Battalion was assigned to the

V Amphibious Corps The V Amphibious Corps (VAC) was a formation of the United States Marine Corps which was composed of the 3rd, 4th and 5th Marine Divisions in World War II. The three divisions were the amphibious landing force for the United States Fifth Fl ...

for the

Battle of Tarawa The Battle of Tarawa was fought on 20–23 November 1943 between the United States and Japan on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands, and was part of Operation Galvanic, the U.S. invasion of the Gilberts. Nearly 6,400 Japanese, Koreans, and Am ...

. They came ashore on November 23 after most of the battle was complete in order to garrison the island against Japanese counterattack from the air. For this operation the battalion was reinforced by one half of the 2d Airdrome Battalion which came in from the

Ellice Islands Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

. Following operations at Tarawa the battalion was moved to Hawaii. As the war progressed, the Marine Corps removed coastal artillery from the defense battalions in order to form additional heavy artillery units for the

Fleet Marine Force The United States Fleet Marine Forces (FMF) are combined general and special forces within the United States Department of the Navy that perform offensive amphibious or expeditionary warfare and defensive maritime employment. The Fleet Marine ...

. Because of the divestiture of the coastal defense mission, the battalion was re-designated as the 2d Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 16 April 1944 while on

Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...

. The battalion continued training on Kauai until December 12, 1944, when it received a dispatch ordering it to quickly prepare for deployment to

. On December 26, 1944, 56 officers and 1286 men from the battalion sailed from Nawiliwili on board the SS Agwiprince

Battle of Okinawa

The 2d AAA Battalion was one of four AAA battalions that formed the 1st Provisional Antiaircraft Artillery Group during the Battle of Okinawa. During the battle they were emplaced near

Yontan Airfield Yontan Airfield (also known as Yomitan Auxiliary Airfield) is a former military airfield located near Yomitan Village on the west coast of Okinawa. It was closed in July 1996 and turned over to the Japanese government in December 2006. Today it i ...

in order to protect the airfield against Japanese air raids and

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

attacks. At the end of the war the battalion returned to the United States and was decommissioned on November 28, 1945.

Citations

References

;Bibliography * * * * ;Web * Part 2 {{US Marine Corps navbox AAA2 Air defense units and formations of the United States Marine Corps Military units and formations established in 1940

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

History

History

Formation and early training

Battle of Tarawa, training on Hawaii and Guam

Battle of Okinawa

See also

Citations

References