They famously yomped 56 miles in three days during the Falklands War in 1982.
Now, former Arbroath-based 45 Commando veterans are on the march again – in protest at the ‘betrayal’ of one of their brothers.
45 Commando Veterans (Scotland) are travelling to London on October 28 to join a UK protest to demand the release of Sergeant Alexander Blackman who was convicted of murdering an injured Taliban captive in Afghanistan in 2011.
His supporters say it was manslaughter and the case has been of huge interest in Arbroath after former 45 Commando commanding officer Oliver Lee quit the Royal Marines in protest at Sergeant Blackman’s sentence.
Days before Blackman shot the Taliban casualty, Lee had been made the sergeant’s de facto commanding officer.
Lee felt compelled to resign his Royal Marine commission on a point of principle after his offer to give mitigating evidence on Blackman’s behalf was rejected.
Stuart Lavery, chair of Arbroath-based 45 Commando Veterans (Scotland), said: “We feel it is important for us to go down to London to show our support.
“Everybody is up in arms about what happened to Sergeant Blackman and the whole thing stinks.
“The man was only doing his job and he was set up.”
Mr Lavery said around 1,000 ex-marines are expected to join what he expects to be “one hell of a turnout” for the London protest.
“The shooting happened in the heat of the battle during a war,” said Mr Lavery.
The killing took place after a patrol base in Helmand province came under fire from two insurgents.
Footage from another marine’s helmet-mounted camera showed Blackman shooting the Afghan prisoner in the chest with a 9mm pistol.
Blackman said the killing, which happened while he was serving with Plymouth-based 42 Commando, was a “split-second mistake”.
Blackman, of Taunton, Somerset, was convicted in 2013 and lost an appeal in May last year, but his 10-year minimum term was reduced to eight years because of the combat stress disorder he was suffering at the time of the incident.