VMCJ-1 South Viet-Nam

VMCJ-1 "Golden Hawks" (Marine Composite Reconnaissance Squadron 1) · USMC · 1964-1975

VMCJ-1, the "Golden Hawks," carried the Marine Corps' eyes and electronic fist over Southeast Asia — photo reconnaissance and radar jamming flown from the same flight line. Its Vietnam work began in 1964 off Yankee Station, and in April 1965 the squadron brought its EF-10B Skyknights from Iwakuni to Da Nang, where that July its aircraft screened the first strike in history against a surface-to-air missile site. Over five years at Da Nang the Golden Hawks logged more than 25,000 sorties in four different airframes — EF-10B, RF-8A, EA-6A and RF-4B — before withdrawing in July 1970, then returned for the Son Tay raid, Linebacker, and finally the evacuation of Saigon in spring 1975. This locally made South Viet-Nam souvenir patch, hand-embroidered on cotton, was worn by GySgt R. White, USMC; the squadron was decommissioned that September.