World War II Marine Fighting Squadron 324 (VMF-324) was commissioned on 1 October 1943, at
Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point,
North Carolina as part of
Marine Aircraft Group 32 (MAG-32). That same month the squadron was sent to
Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Oak Grove along with
VMF-321 and
Air Warning Squadron 3 to begin their initial training. The squadron moved up to
Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Kinston in March 1944 as one of the first squadron's there after the field was opened. VMF-324 departed for
Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar on 15 July 1944. During August 1944 detachments from the squadron rotated through
Marine Corps Air Station Mojave for additional training in rockets and heavy bomb training. VMF-324 departed
San Diego on 30 August 1944, sailing for Hawaii. The squadron arrived at
Pearl Harbor in September 1944, and temporarily staged out of
Marine Corps Air Station Ewa. The squadron did not stay long in Hawaii joining
Marine Aircraft Group 23 at
Midway Atoll on 16 September 1944. The squadron remained on Midway conducting aerial patrols for the remainder of the war. During its time there, one pilot was killed, and three aircraft lost to accidents. The squadron was decommissioned at MCAS Ewa on 15 October 1945.
1950s through 1974 On 18 April 1954, squadron pilots flew their
F4U/G Corsairs from the
USS Saipan's flight deck landing them at
Tourane Air Base, to support the French
Aéronavale fighting at the
Battle of Dien Bien Phu in the latest days of the
First Indochina War. The aircraft were turned over to French forces. In the fall of 1957, VMA-324 flying from the along with other Marine Corps aviation squadrons, took part in
Operation Deep Water, a
NATO naval exercise held in the
Mediterranean Sea that simulated protecting the
Dardanelles from a Soviet invasion. The exercise was also the first time that a
Marine Air-Ground Task Force had been used in a NATO exercise. On 29 August 1974, VMA-324 was decommissioned during a ceremony at MCAS Beaufort. Squadron personnel and equipment were redesignated as
VMA-311. Men and equipment that were part of VMA-311 under
Marine Aircraft Group 12 at
Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan were absorbed into other units in the
1st Marine Aircraft Wing. ==Gallery==