![\"Walking](\"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Walking-dead-150x150.jpg\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n1st of the 9th Marines, known in Vietnam as “The Walking Dead” for their high rate of casualties during that war is scheduled to be deactivated today at Camp Lejeune according to the Associated Press, by way of the Stars & Stripes<\/a>;<\/p>\n Formed during World War I, the battalion had previously been deactivated in 1994 and reactivated in 2007. Its insignia depicts a cloaked grim reaper carrying a scythe.<\/p>\n Retired Marine Col. Wesley Fox, who received the Medal of Honor while leading a company within the battalion in Vietnam, said he resents the deactivation.<\/p>\n “Not a better battalion in the world. I don’t know why they’re the ones who keep getting put on the bench but that’s the way it goes I guess,” Fox said.<\/p>\n The deactivation comes as the Pentagon plans to reduce the size of the Marine Corps by several thousand to 182,000 by 2016 and could cut further. The Corps’ wartime peak in recent years was more than 200,000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n You can read the long and storied history of this legendary Marine unit at their own website<\/a>, as it once again strolls into history, to be called back to duty when the country calls once again for heart-breakers and life-takers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"