Three self-identified Marines took a pounding from a mob of at least 40 teens who were shooting off fireworks on the beach in San Clemente, California at the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend on Friday night.

A disturbing video posted online showed two of them on the ground curled up in fetal position as the unruly mob kicked them and screamed profanities and racial slurs. A third Marine was also taking a beating, but can't be seen in the video, according to Daily Mail.

The beating came to an end when an unknown woman and man who just happened to be passing by yelled at the group to, "Stop! What are you doing?"

Memorial Day Weekend on the Beach Becomes Violent Attack

It all started when the three Marines decided to enjoy their rare time off with a walk along the beach in San Clemente, California that night. The three friends were stationed at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside.

Some teens were shooting off fireworks on the beach, and a piece of debris hit one of the Marines, Hunter Antonio, in the face. So he politely asked them to stop.

"They were lighting off fireworks, they were being belligerent and obnoxious and annoying other people, so I went up to them and told them to stop," he said.

Then the group decided to follow the three marines back to the pier, which is when Antonio and one of his friends told the group that they were Marines.

Antonio said they hoped that the warning would make the teens back off, but it ended up inflaming the situation instead.

Marines Tried to Avoid the Fight at First

The video shows the Marines turning their backs and walking away from the altercation, but one teen rushing from behind and attacking.

The Marine turned to defend himself when the entire mob joined in and there was an all-out brawl at that point until a couple of passersby intervened.

Antonio told KCAL they were "stomped on" and "beat up" during the fight.

Resident Witnesses the Unruly Mob

One of the resident's who lives near the beach, Darren Rude, told Fox News Digital that he saw the mob of kids lighting the fireworks before things got violent.

"They started getting rowdy, jumping on top of the restaurant on the beach called West Toast," Rude told Fox News Digital. "They were yelling, screaming, fireworks going off on top of the restaurant, fireworks being shot at each other."

Rude said he called 911 three times prior to the fight to alert them to what was happening on the beach, and that it seemed to be getting increasingly worse.

He was told that the police knew "it's going to be a bad summer for fireworks," but that there were too many other issues they needed to deal with that were more pressing than kids shooting off fireworks on a beach.

The fourth time Rude called, he reported the brawl that was taking place.

"This is considered an assault with a deadly weapon because of the amount of suspects we are investigating," Orange County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Frank Gonzalez told KCAL. "The weapons that were used were their feet while these victims were on the ground. So, regardless if the victims choose prosecution or choose medical attention the sheriff's department is going to investigate this to the fullest and try to determine who the suspects are."