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Elements of the 3rd Marine Division began Operation Prairie II in Quang Tri province, South Vietnam.

Activation of 1st Marine Division, the oldest and largest active-duty division in the USMC.

4th Marine Division captured Namur and other islands in the Kwajalein Atoll.

During the Battle of Hue City, two reduced Marine battalions, the 1st Battalion, 1st Marines with two companies, and 2nd Battalion, 5th Marines with three, recaptured Hue's hospital, jail, and provincial headquarters.

The Marine Corps Women's Reserve was officially established.

The explosion of the USS Maine killed 28 Marines and 232 sailors, leading to the Spanish-American War.

Operation Deckhouse VI began in Quang Tri province, Vietnam.

Marines launched Operation Detachment, invading the volcanic island of Iwo Jima. It became the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history, where "uncommon valor was a common virtue".  The battle lasts more than five weeks, at a cost of 6,821 American dead and 19,217 wounded, as well as approximately 18,000 Japanese troops.

Four days into the Iwo Jima campaign, Marines reached the summit of Mt. Suribachi and raised the American flag. Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the second, larger flag-raising became an enduring icon of American resolve.

I Marine Expeditionary Force began a massive  ground assault to liberate Kuwait during  Operation Desert Storm, marking the largest  Marine Corps operation in history with over  92,000 personnel. A cease-fire was declared on  February 28.  A total of 24 Marines were killed  during the Gulf War.

After a month-long fight during the Tet Offensive, Marines and South Vietnamese forces recaptured the city of Hue, involving intense house-to-house urban combat.

Congress passed an act authorizing the modern organization and maintenance of the Marine Corps Reserve.