U.S. MARINES DESCEND ON PELELIU
Peleliu, Palau Islands, Western Pacific Ocean • September 15, 1944 Beginning on this date in 1944 3 U.S. Marine Corps infantry regiments—the 1st, 5th, and 7th—of the 1st Marine Division landed on Japanese-held Peleliu, a 6‑mile/9.7‑km-long by 2‑mile/3.2‑km-wide speck of coral in the Pacific Ocean’s Palau Island chain. The first wave of Marines was followed less than…