Marines TV

U.S. Marines with Marine Aerial Refueler Transport Squadron (VMGR) 252 fly a KC-130J Hercules and fire AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and AGM-176 Griffin missiles near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California, Aug. 25-31, 2022. VMGR-252 trained in close-air support by using the Harvest Hercules Airborne Weapons Kit. VMGR-252 is a subordinate unit of 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, the aviation combat element of II Marine Expeditionary Force. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Cpl. Christian Cortez) The music within this video production is copyright material used under license with De Wolfe Music USA, Inc. contract dated 1 May 2022.

Maj. Stephen W. Pless commissioned in the United States Marine Corps as a second lieutenant in 1959. When he arrived in Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam as a captain, he would be given the chance to become the only Marine aviator of that conflict to receive the Medal of Honor. Pless, with the support of his crew, would disregard their own safety to save the lives of others--using their aircraft as a shield between an overwhelming Viet Cong force and four wounded U.S. Soldiers. During his tour in Vietnam, Pless was with Marine Observation Squadron 6, Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. (U.S. Marine Corps video by Sgt. Natalie Dillon)

Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, the first complete Marine air group to be transported by sea to a combat zone, launched from the USS Princeton to the shores of Vietnam, Sept. 1, 1965. Immediately, they began providing troop lifts, air strikes, medical evacuation, resupplies, and reconnaissance insertions and extractions in the southern area of operations. MAG-36 flew daily in support of Marines on the ground. Meanwhile, while many U.S. and South Vietnamese forces celebrated the Tet holiday, tens of thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers, Viet Cong guerrillas and local communist militants moved under the cover of night. Their objective was to simultaneously attack more than 100 U.S. and South Vietnamese occupied cities and bases. In the early hours of Jan. 31, 1968, the Communist-led Tet Offensive was in full force.