[3] The division is tasked with providing trained combat and combat support personnel and units to augment and reinforce the active component in time of war, national emergency, and at other times as national security requires; and have the capability to reconstitute the division, if required.

This East Coast echelon moved to Pendleton by train and transit of the Panama Canal in July and August.

When all the units were finally together, the 4th Marine Division was formally activated on August 16, 1943,[5] with Major General Harry Schmidt in command.

After intensive training, it shipped out on 13 January 1944, and in 13 months made four major amphibious assaults, in the battles of Kwajalein (Roi-Namur), Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima under command of V Amphibious Corps, under its command and control were the first Joint Assault Signal Company,[6][7] suffering more than 17,000 casualties.

[4] The division patch worn on Saipan had a gold "4" on a scarlet background, the official colors of the U.S. Marine Corps.

The emblem was designed by SSgt John Fabion, a member of the division's Public Affairs Office before the Marshalls Campaign.

His commanding officer was astonished to find that when the division attacked Roi Islet in Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (January 1944), the layout of the runways on the airstrip there were an exact replica of the "4".

[8] Background: Early in 1962, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara indicated to the Congress that he wanted the Marine Corps to have a fourth division/wing team, to be formed of Ready Reserves.

Reminiscent of a passed torch, a new generation of Marines was eager to prove itself worthy of the trust attendant in the acceptance of the proud colors.

In late 1965, the Commandant approved a plan to further reorganize the Organized Marine Corps Reserve so that the division/wing team would become a "mirror image" of its regular counterparts.

The new change antedated by three years the "Total Force Concept," the Department of Defense policy of integrating reserve component units into the wartime planning and programming process.

[9] The 4th Marine Division was now a fully structured force in its own right, able to muster and move out to a combat assignment within a relatively short period of time.

Battery H had just occupied an exposed firing position, having received multiple shelling which significantly wounded one cannoneer, Sgt.

The 8-gun battery's 1000m by 700m position was on the far side of the second obstacle belt, well in front of the tank and infantry maneuver units it supported, with the burning Burqan oil field to its immediate east.

On battery's east flank piece (Gun #1) Gunner Sgt Shawn Toney and Section Chief Sergeant Thomas Stark, IV, spotted two enemy multiple rocket launchers as they were shifted trails to fire to the south.

Jay Sollis, 1/11 Commander, arrived in the battery position, requested air support and directed a section of AH-1W Sea Cobra to engage the Iraqi counterattack force in the oil field.

[7] On the night of 25 February, the Battalion CP occupied a new position in support of Task Force Papa Bear.

A security patrol, which included Lance Corporal Troy L. Gregory of Battery H, was organized to investigate an enemy bunker adjacent to the new CP position.

He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart Medal and Combat Action Ribbon and was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in section 60, Grave 7723.

In 2004, Mike Battery, out of Chattanooga, Tennessee, deployed to Fallujah, Iraq and took part in Operation Phantom Fury to re-take the insurgent-held city.

During this second deployment, they were attached to 2nd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, Regimental Combat Team 5 and operated in the vicinity of Ar Rutbah under the callsign, "Excalibur".

A memorial paying tribute to them was erected at the battalion headquarters in Brook Park, Ohio, and was dedicated on November 12, 2005.

In January 2003 the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion activated and deployed personnel in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The battalion's missions were across Helmand province and included reconnaissance, civil affairs, security and combat operations.

Lance Corporal Aaron M. Swanson, 21, died Monday February 7, 2011, in Garmsir District, Helmand Province, Afghanistan On July 16, 2015, four Marines with Mike Battery's Inspector-Instructor staff were killed by a gunman who was embarking on a shooting spree targeting military installations.