As part of the First Marine Brigade, the battalion fought valiantly in World War II in the South Pacific.

During the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945, 1st Battalion suffered heavy casualties, but Lieutenant colonel Austin R. Brunelli quickly reorganized the unit and led it to the victory.

It has served as a submarine base for the United States Navy, a union hall for the Teamsters in the Jimmy Hoffa era, and a professional boxing arena for Joe Louis and other famous boxers.

In April 2006, the battalion began training in Michigan and Camp Pendleton, California, to prepare for deployment to Iraq's Al Anbar Governorate.

During this deployment 1/24 participated in Combat Operations in Fallujah, suffering 22 Marines killed in action with another 331 wounded, including 41 amputees.

Building on the improvements that 1/25 had made to Fallujah's infrastructure and community relations after Operation al Fajr, 1/24 also borrowed the concept of "community policing" from the successful Iraq tour that its sister battalion, 2/24, had employed in the Triangle of Death years earlier.

Using aggressive patrolling and intelligence operations that transformed information regarding tribal activities and relationships into "actionable intelligence," 1/24 made major contributions to what has become known as the "Sunni Awakening," or the 180-degree transition of many Sunni tribes in Al Anbar Governorate from supporting the insurgents to supporting the American-led effort in Iraq.

[3] 1/24's concept of victory in Iraq involved building the local police and military forces to the extent that they would be able to counter the insurgency.

The willingness of these tribal leaders to provide major assistance in the fight against al Qaeda marked a significant turning point in the war, when Iraqi nationalists were willing to play an important role, in combating al-Qaeda, at a significant risk to their lives and status.

An important breakthrough took place, he said, when Col. Faisal (Iraq Army) asked the Marines to provide a permanent Quick Response Force (QRF) that would be dedicated to supporting Iraqi Police operations.

Maj. Jeffrey M. O'Neill said that the QRF was something like a portable fire station, able to respond immediately if the Iraqi Police got into something that was too large for them to handle.

He credited the 60% reduction in violent acts during his battalion's tenure in Fallujah to the work his Marines did in creating conditions to return responsibility for certain functions to Iraqi control.

"I am not sure that an active duty battalion can enjoy the success that we had, because you're not going to have a twenty-eight-year Chicago Police officer dealing with anti-gangs, or a New York City firefighter who has the amazing charisma to go out and conduct the type of things that he did with his CAG detachment, or a former [counter-intelligence] Marine as a company commander who sets up one of the most phenomenal intelligence databases and situational awareness for his AO.

"[3] Alpha Company 1/24 completed pre-mobilization training for a deployment to Afghanistan to replace 1st Battalion, 25th Marines in the Helmand and Nimroz Provinces in April 2012.

[4][5] Alpha Co. 1/24 deployed to Helmand Province, Afghanistan in October, 2017, in support of Task Force Southwest (TFSW).