Marine Attack Squadron 543 (VMA-543) was an aviation unit of the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. The squadron, also known as the “Night Hawks”, were part of the

Marine Forces Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

and were based at Naval Air Station Glenview,

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

until their deactivation on April 1, 1974. Originally activated during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, they fought in the

Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...

as part of the

Tactical Air Force The term Tactical Air Force was used by the air forces of the British Commonwealth during the later stages of World War II, for formations of more than one fighter group. A tactical air force was intended to achieve air supremacy and perform grou ...

. The squadron was credited with downing 15 Japanese aircraft during the war. Following the

surrender of Japan The surrender of the Empire of Japan in World War II was announced by Emperor Hirohito on 15 August and formally signed on 2 September 1945, bringing the war's hostilities to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy ...

, the squadron was deactivated only to be later reactivated as part of the Reserves. They were again deactivated in 1974 and remain in an inactive status today.

History

World War II

VMF(N)-543 was commissioned on April 15, 1944 at

Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point or MCAS Cherry Point (*) is a United States Marine Corps airfield located in Havelock, North Carolina, United States, in the eastern part of the state. It was built in 1941, and was commissioned in 1942 and ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. On July 2, 1943 the squadron commanding officer, Major Claude Carlson, was killed when he developed

hypoxia Hypoxia means a lower than normal level of oxygen, and may refer to: Reduced or insufficient oxygen * Hypoxia (environmental), abnormally low oxygen content of the specific environment * Hypoxia (medical), abnormally low level of oxygen in the tis ...

at high altitude in his F6F Hellcat due to a defective regulator. The Night Hawks continued to train there through the summer until the squadron moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Centro,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on September 30, 1944. More training ensued until it departed for

Marine Corps Air Station Ewa Marine Corps Air Station Ewa (MCAS Ewa) was a United States Marine Corps air station that was located west of Pearl Harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. The base was hit during the attack on Pearl Harbor, and later served as the hub for all Mar ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

in January 1945. From MCAS Ewa the squadron was separated into three echelons. The assault echelon departed Hawaii on February 22 on board the and . They steamed westward via

Eniwetok Enewetak Atoll (; also spelled Eniwetok Atoll or sometimes Eniewetok; mh, Ānewetak, , or , ; known to the Japanese as Brown Atoll or Brown Island; ja, ブラウン環礁) is a large coral atoll of 40 islands in the Pacific Ocean and with it ...

Ulithi Ulithi ( yap, Wulthiy, , or ) is an atoll in the Caroline Islands of the western Pacific Ocean, about east of Yap. Overview Ulithi consists of 40 islets totaling , surrounding a lagoon about long and up to wide—at one of the largest i ...

Palau Palau,, officially the Republic of Palau and historically ''Belau'', ''Palaos'' or ''Pelew'', is an island country and microstate in the western Pacific. The nation has approximately 340 islands and connects the western chain of the Caro ...

, and

Leyte Leyte ( ) is an island in the Visayas group of islands in the Philippines. It is eighth-largest and sixth-most populous island in the Philippines, with a total population of 2,626,970 as of 2020 census. Since the accessibility of land has be ...

, landing on

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

early April 7. The flight echelon arrived on Okinawa April 9 and the rear echelon caught up with the squadron on May 1, 1945. The squadron took its first casualties when 5 squadron Marines were injured when their transport ship ''USS Achernar'' was hit by a

kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

. Twenty members of the squadron received commendations for their actions to help put out the fire on board the ship that ensued. During the

the squadron was attached to

Marine Aircraft Group 33 Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 33 (MATSG-33) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training group that was originally established during World War II as Marine Aircraft Group 33 (MAG-33). Fighter squadrons from MAG-33 fought most ...

(MAG-33) and flew from Kadena Airfield They began flying tactical mission on April 9 and continued through August 7. At first the Marine night fighters were not that effective against the nightly Japanese bombing raids. The network of ''Air Warning Squadrons'', which would provide

ground-controlled intercept Ground-controlled interception (GCI) is an air defence tactic whereby one or more radar stations or other observational stations are linked to a command communications centre which guides interceptor aircraft to an airborne target. This tactic was p ...

around the island, was still being emplaced, there were many issues with sensitive electronics gear, radio interference was rampant and even friendly anti-aircraft fire was a problem. By mid-May though, the problems had been worked through, and for the remainder of the campaign night fighters were extremely effective against the enemy. During the battle the squadron was also tasked with flying night heckling missions which consisted of strafing enemy positions though these missions effects were limited at best. During their time on Okinawa the Night Hawks were credited with shooting down 15 Japanese aircraft and 1 probable. Following the

the squadron moved to Awase Airfield where they would remain until the

. VMF(N)-543 would return to the states in January 1946 and be based at

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (MCAS Miramar) , formerly Naval Auxiliary Air Station (NAAS) Miramar and Naval Air Station (NAS) Miramar, is a United States Marine Corps installation that is home to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is the av ...

, California. On April 11, 1946, as part of the post-war drawdown of forces, the squadron was decommissioned.

Reserve years

After the war the squadron was reactivated as Marine Fighting Squadron 543 (VMF-543), a standard day fighter squadron at Naval Air Station Glenview,

. The squadron was later designated Marine Attack Squadron 543 (VMA-543) but was deactivated on April 1, 1974 as part of the post-

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

reduction in forces.

Unit awards

A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited. Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation. VMA-543 was presented with the following awards:

Citations

References

;Bibliography * * * * * * ;Web
VMA-543 page @ www.skyhawk.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vma-543

543 __NOTOC__ Year 543 ( DXLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 543 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar er ...