Fighting Bulldogs

VMA-223 "Bulldogs" (heritage of VMF-223) · USMC · 1987-2026

A Friday flight-suit patch worn by the Marines of VMA-223, the "Bulldogs" of MCAS Cherry Point, rendering the squadron's own Harrier tail marking as a period homage: a black F4F Wildcat silhouette laid over the red rays of the rising sun. The design reaches back to 20 August 1942, when VMF-223 flew its Wildcats onto Henderson Field as the first fighter squadron committed to the Battle of Guadalcanal, joining the Cactus Air Force and claiming 83 Japanese aircraft before departing on 13 October. Squadron commander Major John L. Smith earned the Medal of Honor in those two months, and his maintenance officer, Captain Marion Carl, took the first of two Navy Crosses. The Bulldogs carried the rising-sun rudder pattern forward through the A-4M and the AV-8B Harrier II, retiring the Marine Corps' last Harrier at Cherry Point on 3 June 2026.