VMFA-122 Crusaders

VMFA-122 "Crusaders" · USMC · 1965-2008

Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 122 took the name "Crusaders" in December 1957, when it became the first Marine squadron to fly the F-8 Crusader out of MCAS Beaufort, and answered to it for the next half century — adopting this Templar-style red cross on a white shield as its badge. The "VMFA" on the scroll dates the patch to January 1965 or later, when the squadron traded its Crusaders for F-4B Phantom IIs and was redesignated a fighter attack squadron. Flying from Da Nang beginning in September 1967, the Crusaders put up 2,540 sorties in five months and another 629 combat missions in February 1968 alone over the siege of Khe Sanh. The squadron retired the name in 2008, reverting to its World War II moniker "Werewolves" ahead of an Iraq deployment, making this cross the mark of an era that closed.