Upon completion of their training in late September to early October they boarded troop ships in San Diego, California and sailed to Hilo, Hawaii, where they would eventually call Camp Tarawa home.

The 28th Marines was originally scheduled to assault Yap in the Caroline Islands in the fall of 1944 but a change in strategy at higher levels would allow for a few more months of training and planning for the next mission.

[2] On 19 October 1944, Colonel Liversedge received tentative plans for the invasion of Iwo Jima[3] and would set in place two more months of intensive training preparing his men for the amphibious assault upon the volcanic island.

[4] The 28th Marines embarked upon amphibious transports in late December and after a few days liberty in Pearl Harbor they set sail heading west on 7 January 1945.

[8] By late in the afternoon the regiment had isolated Mount Suribachi and began to commence its attacks south against the defenders of the island redoubt.

Progress was initially slow and measured in yards as they had to fight their way through hundreds of layered and mutually supporting Japanese pillboxes, blockhouses, spiderholes and strongpoints.

The 28th Marines was decommissioned on January 28, 1946 at MCB Camp Pendleton, CA as part of the post-war drawdown of forces.