VMSB-343 | Marine Scouting Bombing Squadron Three Hundred Forty Three | Gregory's Gorillas

VMSB-343 | Marine Scouting Bombing Squadron Three Hundred Forty Three

Commissioned: 8.1.43

Deactivated: 6.10.46

Nickname of Unit: Gregory's Gorillas
Date of Insignia: 1.5.44
Authorization: HQMC

Aircraft Employed: SBD-5, SB2C-3

Marine Scout Bombing Squadron 343 was commissioned at Marine Corps Auxiliary Airfield Atlantic, North Carolina on August 1, 1943. The squadron transferred to Marine Corps Outlying Field Greenville on December 1, 1943 and trained there until July 15, 1944 when the squadron boarded trains bound for the West Coast. The squadron departed Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on August 31, 1944 onboard the USS Altamaha (CVE-18) bound for Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Hawaii.

On October 27 the squadron's Curtiss SB2C Helldivers began the 1,100 mile flight to Midway Atoll stopping to refuel at French Frigate Shoals en route. The flight crews flew via Curtiss R5Cs. The squadron operated off of Eastern Island providing anti-submarine patrols as part of the Hawaiian Sea Frontier. In April 1945 the squadron transferred to Sand Island where they would remain until the end of the war. On August 11, 1945 the squadron boarded the USS Colusa (APA-74) to return to MCAS Ewa.

After returning to Hawaii many of the original members of VMSB-343 rotated home. The squadron was reformed with the addition of numerous personnel from VMSB-241 that were also rotating back through Hawaii.

Remarks from the request for approval of the insignia:

"Squadron VMSB-343 was commissioned on 1 August, 1943 and ordered to Atlantic Field, North Carolina. At Atlantic Field were two other squadrons in training. Both of these squadrons had names based, evidently, on the characteristics and spirit displayed by it's members and, in addition, incorporated the names of their Commanding Officers. These names also conveyed a certain sense of rhyme.

In the course of VMSB-343's residence at Atlantic Field, it too acquired a name. The origin of the name would be difficult to ascertain but it sprang from that common source of most all Marine Corps epithets, the ranks. The squadron was dubbed Gregory's Gorillas.

When an insignia was to be created for the squadron, an insignia in keeping with the name was chosen. The insignia submitted suggests and refers to that name as well as denoting the type of mission assigned to the squadron."

Painted on fabric

Reference

Millstein, Jeff. U. S. Marine Corps Aviation Unit Insignia 1941-1946. p 79.