Humanitarian· Indian Ocean Tsunami Relief (Op UNIFIED ASSISTANCE)
Indian Ocean Tsunami Relief
The wave that swept the Indian Ocean killed more than two hundred thousand people in a single morning and left thousands of miles of coastline in ruins, a disaster almost beyond comprehension.
The Marines answered it with everything an expeditionary force can bring to a catastrophe. Ships steamed toward the wreckage, helicopters lifted off loaded with food, water, and medicine, and engineers went to work on the shattered ports and roads that had cut survivors off from help. There was no enemy, only the staggering scale of the destruction and the race to reach people before disease and hunger claimed those the water had spared. Working alongside a vast international effort, the Marines flew the supplies in, carried out the injured, and helped reopen the lifelines a region needed to survive. It stands among the largest relief operations ever mounted, the Corps' amphibious power turned wholly to the work of saving lives.
Record no. 837