VMR-953 Marine Transport

Marine Transport Squadron 953 (VMR-953) · USMC · 1944-1946

Raised as a utility squadron under Marine Aircraft Group 15 at Cherry Point and redesignated a transport squadron in 1944, VMR-953 flew the slab-sided Curtiss R5C-1 Commando on the least glamorous and most indispensable work of the Pacific war. Operating from MCAS Ewa, Hawaii, the squadron ran the long overwater freight runs out to the Marshalls and Gilberts, hauling ammunition, blood plasma and mail forward and carrying wounded Marines back. The patch says it plainly: a cat in a yellow Mae West, feet churning, wrestling a wooden crate with something alive inside it across a cloud lettered MARINES — the cargo hauler's joke that the squadron would carry anything, anywhere, and ask about the contents later. This example is embroidered on twill, the fragile wartime construction that makes surviving 9xx-series transport patches scarce today.