Active 1 March 1942 – present Type Rotary wing | Country United States Role Assault support | |
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Allegiance United States of America Branch United States Marine Corps | ||
Marine Aircraft Group 24 (MAG-24) is a United States Marine Corps aviation unit based at Marine Corps Air Facility Kaneohe Bay. MAG-24 is subordinate to the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing and the III Marine Expeditionary Force (III MEF).
Contents
Mission
Provide combat-ready, expeditionary aviation forces capable of short-notice, worldwide employment to a Marine Air Ground Task Force.
Subordinate units
The following units are subordinate to MAG-24:
World War II
Activated on 1 March 1942 at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Oahu, Hawaii. During World War II, MAG-24 saw extensive action throughout the Pacific theater, and in particular in the campaigns to liberate the Philippines. Following the war, MAG-24 was deployed as part of the III Amphibious Corps to Peiping in Northern China to take part in the occupation that lasted from October 1945 until April 1947. In April 1947 they were relocated to Guam. In 1949, MAG-24 moved to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina and remained there for the next twenty years.
1960s through today
In April 1968, MAG-24 moved back to the Pacific and Kaneohe, Hawaii where it became the Marine Corps’ largest and only permanent composite Marine Aircraft Group.
Before 1977 the 1ST Marine Brigades's (3rd Marine Division) MAG24, provided both fixed and rotary wing squadrons for six-month 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (31ST MEU) deployments.
In 1980 Marine from 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines (3/3) and MAG-24 embarked upon the USS Okinawa (LPH-3), USS Mobile (LKA-115), USS Barbey (FF-1088), and the USS Gridley (DLG-21) at Pearl Harbor for a cruise to the Persian Gulf, as a force in reserve, for the failed US Embassy hostage rescue effort in Iran known as Operation Eagle Claw.
From 1 October 1986 to 30 September 1994, MAG-24 served as the Aviation Combat Element for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Brigade. From August to December 1990, squadrons and personnel from MAG-24 deployed to Southwest Asia to support Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm. The last MAG-24 squadrons to return participated in Operation Sea Angel, the Bangladesh relief operation. During recent years all three tactical squadrons have deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan as part of the Unit Deployment Program (UDP) program and have provided aircraft to the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. The three squadrons have traveled the Pacific participating in exercises in Japan, Korea, and Thailand. In September 2004 a small detachment of CH-53Ds from HMH-463 joined HMM-265 as the Heavy lift portion of the 31st MEU Aviation Combat Element. This MEU detachment became the first CH-53Ds to participate in combat operations since Desert Storm, operating out of Al Asad Airbase, Al Anbar Province, Iraq. In early 2006, HMH-362 supported a Presidential visit to India by providing 5 aircraft to support the mission. Currently HMH-362 is operating in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.