Hand Salute!

After nearly seven decades of service, Marine Attack Squadron 513 (VMA-513) was officially deactivated during a ceremony Friday morning at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma.

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“Some would say it is a sad day,” Smith said. “I choose to believe it is a proud day, a day where we all get to pay homage to the unit that will forever maintain its honor and winning record – having kicked butt in almost every major war and conflict for the last 69 years.”

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The squadron’s nickname, “Flying Nightmares,” was coined by Lt. Col. James Anderson, the unit’s Commanding Officer, during the Korean War. Anderson thought the moniker was appropriate because during March 1951 the squadron’s 15 F7F Tigercats and 15 F4U-5N Corsairs provided the sole night fighter air defense and interdiction support for all the U.N. forces at war on the Korean peninsula. 

Just before the escalation of the Vietnam War, the squadron received the F-4 Phantom II jet fighter and was re-designated VMFA-513, a fighter attack squadron. In June 1965, the Nightmares were sent to Vietnam for five months of combat. In August 1965, the unit supported the 7th Marine Regiment during Operation Starlite, the first major American operation of the war.

The colors were struck, cased and along with other historical memorabilia from VMA-513, will be packed up and sent to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va.

Read the whole article HERE.  You can also go read the squadron history HERE.

Ready, Two!

They did good and went out on top.  Can’t ask much more than that…

h/t JP