RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Decades before the television show, a Marine Corps battalion decorated for extensive combat in World War II and Vietnam earned the nickname the “Walking Dead.”

Now the 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, which also served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is being deactivated during a ceremony Friday at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Marine Corps historians say the battalion appears to have gotten the nickname because of its high rate of casualties during the Vietnam War, but the unit also has a reputation for heroism that included four Medal of Honor recipients in World War II and Vietnam.

The battalion, which was formed during World War I, had previously been deactivated in 1994 and reactivated in 2007. Its insignia depicts a cloaked grim reaper carrying a scythe.