During the war the battalion defended Hawaii, Tutuila in American Samoa and Guam and took part in combat operations at Tarawa Atoll and Okinawa.

The battalion returned to the United States after the war and was decommissioned at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California on 28 November 1945.

[3] Because of the Marine Corps' rapid growth beginning in 1939, there was a great deal of movement amongst leadership as the institution struggled to keep pace.

They came ashore on November 23 after most of the battle was complete in order to garrison the island against Japanese counterattack from the air.

The battalion continued training on Kauai until December 12, 1944, when it received a dispatch ordering it to quickly prepare for deployment to Guam.