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U.S. Marines with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, stand in formation during a centennial ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Aug. 15, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samantha Devine) 250815-M-YL719-1079

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, earlier this month, celebrated the 100th anniversary of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232 “Red Devils,” an F/A-18C/D Super Hornet squadron with Marine Aircraft Group 11, during a commemorative ceremony aboard MCAS Miramar. It is the Marine Corps’ oldest active fighter attack squadron.

The squadron was established as VF-3M on 1 September 1925, at NAS San Diego, and its long combat history began less than two years later when the squadron’s Boeing FB Hawk single-seat biplanes provided reconnaissance and air support to Gen. Smedley Butler’s 3rd Brigade in Teintsin. Their ersatz mud field was about 35 miles from the city, and the ground crew had to provide their own security against bandits and warlords. The squadron nonetheless logged 3,818 sorties in support of the 3rd Brigade over 18 months.

The “Red Devils,” later flying SBD dive bombers as VMSB-232, became the first flying squadron to land on Guadalcanal’s Henderson Field on 20 August 1942 during World War II and made history as part of the Cactus Air Force, earning two presidential citations during the war.

Wreckage of an SBD scout-bomber, still burning after it was destroyed by a Japanese air attack on Henderson Field, Guadalcanal, 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Catalog #: 80-G-14409

When it left Henderson two months later, only one of the original 15 Guadalcanal Red Devils was still walking.

Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 232 Insignia, circa 1942, Guadalcanal, where they specialized in paving Iron Bottom Sound with Japanese ships/The drawing was done by I.F. Waldgovel in 1983.

Then came Korea (the squadron itself did not deploy, but all of its original pilots and 40 percent of its enlisted were sent overseas as replacements), two tours in Vietnam, numerous carrier deployments, 740 combat missions in Desert Storm, etc. It later became the first F-18 squadron to land in Afghanistan in 2010 during Operation Enduring Freedom.

Over the past century, the squadron has flown 15 different aircraft (including TBM Avengers, F6F Hellcats, F4U Corsairs, FJ Furys, F-8 Crusaders, and F-4 Phantoms) and participated in every major (and many minor) U.S. conflicts.

The legacy aircraft figure will soon be updated to 16, as it is slated to move to F-35Cs in the next few years.

A U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18D Hornet, serving as the color bird for Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 232, Marine Aircraft Group 11, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is staged in the hangar during a centennial ceremony at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Aug. 15, 2025. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Samantha Devine)