The Marine Corps, which turned 240 years old on Tuesday, has served a role in every conflict in US history.
That's because the Marines operate on sea, air, and land — unlike the other service branches — and can respond to a crisis in less than 24 hours with the full force of a modern military.
Today there are more than 220,000 active-duty and reserve Marines. To celebrate the Corps, we've pulled some of the best photos from the archives.
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Created in 1798, the Marine Corps Band was called "The President's Own" by President Jefferson during his inaugural ball. Since then, the band has played at every presidential inauguration. Here's the band in 1893.
In the early 1900s, Marine forces were active in China and in the Philippines. This photo, from 1907, shows Marines posing in front of the Great Sphinx in Egypt.
World War I was characterized by trench warfare and the use of poison gas. Mortars were useful in muddy trenches because a mortar round could be aimed to fall directly into trenches, unlike artillery shells. These Marines are posing with a German trench mortar captured in France in 1918.
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