Iwo Jima and Japan (1945)

Following the invasion of Guam, 3rd Battalion spent two months conducting mopping up operations on the island until November, when it received orders to prepare for operations against Iwo Jima. From November until February 1945, they took part in a training regimen so serious that a fellow battalion later reported at least 20% of its members were incapacitated due to foot and heat injuries.[12] During the Battle of Iwo Jima, 3rd Battalion, as part of 3rd Marines, was kept offshore as the Expeditionary Troops reserve. However, despite numerous requests from other Marine officers, the 3rd Marines were never landed. After sitting off Iwo Jima in their transport ships for a month the 3rd Marines were ordered to return to Guam on March 5, 1945.[30]
Back on Guam, 3rd Battalion began training for a landing on Miyako Jima, an island just south of Okinawa.[12] Those orders were eventually cancelled, but the battalion still saw minor combat in 1945, participating in two operations on Guam designed to capture Japanese soldiers still holding out in the hills. These sweeps took place in April and December 1945.[12] 3rd Battalion also began preparing for Operation Olympic, where as part of V Amphibious Corps, it would have landed at Kushikino, Kagoshima on Kyūshū. After the dropping of the atomic bombs in August 1945, and Japan's surrender, 3rd Battalion was detached from the 3rd Marine Division in November 1945 and deactivated the following month on December 12, 1945.[2] Shortly before it was deactivated the Battalion suffered the dubious honor of having the last American killed in World War II, when PFC W.C. Patrick Bates of Company K was shot by a Japanese sniper on December 14 during a mopping up operation on Guam (three months after the formal end of hostilities).[31]


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