The following events from Marine Corps history took place in July:
On July 4, 1801, third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, reviewed Marines led by the second Commandant of the Marine Corps, Lieutenant Colonel William W. Burrows, and the Marine Band. The review took place on the grounds of the White House grounds and the Marines performed drills and fired salutes in observance of our country's 25th anniversary.
On July 6, 1990, the last two A-4 Skyhawks from Marine Aircraft Group 32 flew their initial flights from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland, as the Marine Corps decided to retire the Skyhawk from its active aviation structure. The Skyhawk was one of the oldest, most versatile attack aircraft in USMC history, having been in service for more than 30 years.
On July 7, 1941, the 1st Marine Air Wing (1st MAW) was activated at Quantico, Virginia. Less than a year after its activation, the 1st MAW participated in the Marine Corps offensive at Guadalcanal. The Guadalcanal campaign would be the first of many legendary battles in the Wing's history, and over the course of World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, the 1st MAW earned five Presidential Unit Citations for gallantry.
On July 11, 1798, second President of the United States, John Adams, approved "An Act for Establishing and Organizing a Marine Corps", and it became law. The following day, President Adams appointed William Ward Burrows the Major Commandant of the new Corps. In August, Major Burrows opened his headquarters in Philadelphia, which, at the time, was still the capital of our young nation.
On July 14, 1993, the USS Iwo Jima was decommissioned after over 30 years of service in a ceremony at Norfolk Naval Base, Virginia. The ship, named for the World War II battle in which three Marine divisions defeated 20,000 Japanese troops, was commissioned August 26, 1961, and it was the first ship specifically designed as an amphibious assault ship from the keel up.
On July 18, 1918, the 4th Marine Brigade began an attack near Soissons, France. The attack was part of a World War I three-division counterattack against German forces. The Marines sustained 1,972 casualties in the first two days of the battle.
On July 24, 1944, the V Amphibious Corps, a formation of the United States Marine Corps composed of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions, landed on Tinian, in the Mariana Islands during the Marine Corps' Pacific Campaign in World War II.
The following morning, under the command of Major General Harry Schmidt, the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions began a shoulder-to-shoulder sweep of the island. Organized enemy resistance faded within a week, and on August 1, Major General Schmidt declared the island secure.
Added July 28, 2016
On July 26, 1947, the National Security Act of 1947 was enacted, reaffirming the status of the Marine Corps as a separate military service within the Department of the Navy.
The act provided for Fleet Marine Forces and confirmed the Corps' mission of seizing and defending advanced bases, as well as land operations in support of naval campaigns.
On July 28, 1918, United States Marine Corps Brigadier General John A. Lejeune assumed command of the U.S. Army's 2nd Division in France during World War I. Lejeune remained in that capacity until August the following year, at which point the unit was demobilized. Lejeune was the first Marine officer to hold an Army divisional command, and following the armistice that ended the war, he led his division in the march into Germany.