Marines and sailors of the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit boarded three ships of the Sasebo, Japan- based USS Essex Amphibious Readiness Group and began their voyage home from the Middle East on Monday.

The trip back to Okinawa will take about four weeks, according to a 31st MEU news release.

The MEU’s 2,200 members served in Iraq from last September to February, when the unit was assigned to the 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force. It was responsible primarily for conducting security and stabilization operations in the 33,000-square-mile U.S. area of operation in the Al Anbar province.

It also conducted a wide range of missions, including assistance and security for Iraq’s elections, cordon and limited-scale raids against insurgents, civil affairs missions, border security and training of Iraqi Security Forces.

Roughly 2,300 sailors make up the crews of the Essex, the USS Juneau and the USS Harpers Ferry, which left Sasebo in August to transport the Marines, along with their vehicles and equipment, to Kuwait, where the MEU disembarked before heading into Iraq. The three ships have been operating in the Persian Gulf since September in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The Essex diverted to Indonesia in January to assist in the humanitarian effort to the victims of the Dec. 26 tsunami. It returned to the Persian Gulf to pick up Marines before heading for Sasebo.

Two hundred and twenty-one Marines and sailors from the 31st MEU were wounded during the deployment, the Marine release stated, and 50 were killed, including 27 who died in the Jan. 26 crash of a CH-53E helicopter near Ar Rutbah.

The MEU is composed of a ground combat element, Battalion Landing Team, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment (which lost the 27 in the crash); an aviation combat element, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 265 (Reinforced); a service support element, MEU Service Support Group 31; and the MEU command element. All are based on Okinawa except the 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment. The 900 members of that battalion are based at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, and are due to return there from Okinawa in April.

“The 31st MEU is looking forward to returning to Okinawa,” spokesman Capt. Burrell D. Parmer stated in the release. “Although we are preparing to head home for a much-deserved rest and to share time missed with our loved ones, we must continue to be ready to serve as America’s 911 force in the western Pacific.”

The 31st MEU’s commanding officer, Col. W. Lee Miller, praised the unit for its performance while in Iraq.

“The Marines and sailors of the 31st MEU have carved their names into the history books,” Miller stated in a Feb. 28 release. “I could not be any prouder to have led them during Operation Iraqi Freedom and in supporting Iraq’s first free elections. The continuous cycles of training in the Asia-Pacific region had prepared us for such an operation and the MEU completed its tasks successfully.”

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