Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. David Berger.  

PENTAGON – The U.S. Marine Corps does not have a confirmed
leader for the first time in 164 years, following Marine Corps Commandant Gen. David Berger’s relinquish-of-command
ceremony held Monday and Berger’s private retirement
ceremony.

The last time the Marines were without a confirmed leader was
1859 following the sudden death of Commandant Archibald
Henderson. (FOX NEWS)

Archibald Henderson (January 21, 1783 – January 6, 1859)

From Cape Canaveral, Florida, John Herschel Glenn Jr. was
successfully launched into space aboard the Friendship 7
spacecraft on the first orbital flight by an American astronaut
on this day in 1962.

Glenn, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps, was
among the seven men chosen by the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959 to become
America’s first astronauts.

During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress passed
a resolution stating that “two Battalions of Marines be raised” for
service as landing forces for the recently formed Continental Navy.

The resolution, drafted by future U.S. president John Adams and
adopted in Philadelphia, created the Continental Marines and is
now observed as the birth date of the United States Marine Corps.

John Adams (October 30, 1735– July 4, 1826)

A U.S. Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion is deployed to Da
Nang. President Johnson (below) had ordered this deployment to provide protection for the key U.S. airbase there.

This was the first commitment of American combat troops in South Vietnam
and there was considerable reaction around the world to the new stage of
U.S. involvement in the war.

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 – January 22, 1973)

Hawk missile launchers at Da Nang Airfield in 1965.

On this day in 1942, the U.S. 1st Marine Division begins Operation Watchtower, the first U.S. offensive of the war, by landing on Guadalcanal, one of the Solomon Islands.