Dog Company

Dog Company was the heavy weapons outfit of First Battalion, 24th Marines. Its counterparts were How Company (Second Battalion) and Mike Company (Third Battalion).

On paper, the company was home to 288 men, divided into a headquarters section (41 men), an 81mm mortar platoon (4 tubes, 58 men) and three heavy machine gun platoons (12 M1917 water-cooled Brownings; 43 men). There were authorized billets for wire communications specialists, ordnance handlers, Jeep and light truck drivers. Dog Company even fielded a section armed with fifty-caliber M2 machine guns – highly unusual for an infantry unit, and not specified in the official Table of Organization. While these sections were administratively linked to a single company, they never deployed as a single unit. If combat was imminent, each of the three machine gun platoons would report to one of the three rifle companies (Able, Baker, or Charlie) to augment that unit’s direct fire. The 81mm mortars were controlled by battalion headquarters, where their ability to drop quick barrages of heavy shells led to the nickname “hip pocket artillery.”

Disbanding the Weapons Company
In March of 1944, the Marine Corps reorganized from the “E Series” Table of Organization & Equipment (TO&E) to the “F Series.” Part of this shake-up eliminated the weapons companies from its infantry battalions. Dog, How, and Mike Companies disbanded, and the Marines were reassigned among the rifle companies.

Dog Company veteran Glenn Buzzard reported that the move was done with typical Marine Corps logic: the First MG Platoon went to Company A, the Second to Company B, and the Third to Company C. The “heavies” joined with the light machine guns already serving with the rifle companies to create an enlarged MG platoon. The 81mm mortars and support personnel went to the Battalion Headquarters.

Although Dog Company only campaigned as a unit – with its unique “415” UNIS marking – on Namur, its original cadre would go on to  fight with the rifle companies on Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima.