Our History
1st Battalion, 23d Marines was activated 22 July 1942 at New River, North Carolina and deployed to the South Pacific in February 1944, participating in every campaign with the 4th Marine Division including Roi-Namur, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima. Two Marines from the battalion were posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, including Private Joseph Ozbourn, for actions on Tinian, and Sergeant Darrell Cole, for actions on Iwo Jima. The battalion deactivated on 15 November 1945, but was reactivated on 1 July 1962 in Houston, Texas as part of the Marine Corps Reserve. 1/23 mobilized in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm in January 1991 and deployed to Camp Pendleton, and mobilized and deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in January 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in August 2004 and May 2007, and again in support of OEF in and March 2011. With the battalion headquarters previously located at Old Spanish Trail in Houston, the unit now calls Joint Reserve Base Ellington the battalion headquarters.