VFMA 323
Information:
Active
August 1, 1943 – present
Country
United States
Branch
USMC
Type
Fighter/Attack
Role
Close air support
Air interdiction
Aerial reconnaissance
Part of
Marine Aircraft Group 11
3rd Marine Aircraft Wing
Garrison/HQ
Marine Corps Air Station Miramar
Nickname(s)
Death Rattlers
Motto(s)
"Come to Fight - Come to Win" or unofficially "Come to Drink - Come to Fight"
Tail Code
WS / NK/ NE/ NH
Engagements
World War II
* Battle of Okinawa
Korean War
* Battle of Inchon
* Battle of Chosin Reservoir
* Attack on the Sui-ho Dam
Vietnam War
Operation El Dorado Canyon
Operation Desert Storm
Operation Enduring Freedom
Operation Iraqi Freedom
* 2003 invasion of Iraq
Commanders
Current
commander
(To be added)
Aircraft flown
Fighter
F4U Corsair (1943-53)
F9F Panther (1953-54)
F9F Cougar (1954-56)
FJ-4 Fury (1956-59)
F-8 Crusader (1959-64)
F-4 Phantom II (1964-82)
F/A-18 Hornet (1982-
History: World War Two
VMF-323 was commissioned August 1, 1943 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. According to oral history, the squadron got its name from three fighter pilots who killed a 6-foot rattlesnake and hung its skin in the squadron's ready room. VMF-323 began training in F4U Corsairs almost immediately for combat in the Pacific theater of World War II. Much of the new squadron's training was done at Marine Corps Air Station El Centro and Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton, California. In July 1944, the Death Rattlersdeparted for the Pacific aboard the USS Long Island. For the next nine months, VMF-323 flew training missions from secure island bases in the South Pacific.
On April 9, 1945, the Death Rattlers flew into Kadena airfield in support of Operation Icebergduring the Battle of Okinawa. Combat operations commenced the following day. Between then and the Japanese surrender in August, the Death Rattlers racked up 124 Japanese planes shot down without a single loss. Twelve Death Rattlers became aces.
After the war, the Death Rattlers were based at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, where they conducted training exercises. It was around this time that the squadron appeared in the 1949 movie Sands of Iwo Jima.
History: Vietnam War
As the United States grew closer to war in South Vietnam, the Death Rattlers deployed to Da Nang Air Base beginning on October 25, 1965. Combat operations started the day after they arrived. The squadron lost its first aircraft a week after they arrived when the squadron's executive officer was shot down by a Surface-to-air missile over North Vietnam. It was the only Marine F-4 felled by a SAM during the war. 323 remained in Vietnam until 1969, flying combat sorties from Da Nang and Chu Lai