Romeo Battery joins III MEF team

Photo By Master Sgt. Rebekka Heite | Lance Cpl. Zach Hopkins, motor transport operator with Battery R, 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, and Lance Cpl. Jacob Winstead, motor transport operator/ on vehicle equipment with Battery R, dress a 7-ton as a flat bed March 16 in preparation for the quadcons it will be transporting when the unit leaves to conduct an exercise in Korea in the upcoming weeks.  

CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JAPAN

03.18.2011

Story by Sgt. Rebekka Heite 

III Marine Expeditionary Force   

CAMP HANSEN, Japan - More than 130 Marines with Romeo Battery, 5th Battalion, 10th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of Camp Lejeune, N.C., arrived on Okinawa to augment 3rd Battalion, 12th Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, as part of the Marine Corps’ Unit Deployment Program March 11.

“It’s a beautiful island,” said Capt. Kendrick Gaines, Romeo Battery commander. “We’re happy to be here to augment 3/12 in their mission.”

During their six-month tour with 3rd Battalion, 12 Marines, the battery will conduct Theater Security Cooperation operations and bilateral training on Okinawa, at Camp Fuji, Japan, and in the Republic of Korea.

The battery is part of a battalion steeped in Marine Corps history.
5th Battalion, 10th Marines, was originally activated as 3rd Battalion, 10th Marines on Jan. 1, 1941, and armed with 75 mm Pack howitzers.

The unit, known as the “Steel Rain Battalion” and “The Five and Dime” was the first to fire artillery rounds Aug. 7, 1942 during a U.S. offensive of World War II when they fired on Guadalcanal.

Then, the battalion exchanged their 75mm Pack howitzers for 155 mm howitzers and was redesignated 2nd 155 mm howitzer Battalion. That name stuck through campaigns for Saipan, Guam, and Iwo Jima, where the battalion landed the second day of fighting.

It was deactivated in 1945, and was not reactivated until 1954.

The Marines of 5/10 did not see action again until the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, when they supported the blockade that forced the Soviet Union to remove its missiles from Cuba.
After the Cuban Missile Crisis, there was another lull in the fighting for 5th Battalion until the Gulf War.

It received its current name in 1978 while it served as the division’s general support artillery battalion.

In recent history, the battalion has participated in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and the on-going Enduring Freedom.
They recently returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, said 1st Sgt. Leland Chartier, battery first sergeant.

“Our focus was on Afghanistan,” he said. “Then, the day we get here, Japan is hit with an earthquake and tsunami - any clime and place.”

Editor’s note: Key historical information about 5th Battalion, 10th Marines, was found on the unit’s official web site at www.marines.mil/unit/2ndmardiv/10thmarreg/5thbat/Pages/Honors-Lineage/default.aspx.

• Date Taken: 03.18.2011
• Date Posted: 03.18.2011 00:07
• Story ID: 67244
• Location: CAMP HANSEN, OKINAWA, JP