INTRODUCTION

Marine Fighting Squadron 213 served in the South Pacific during the early stages of WWII. They fought to control the skies, as the Navy did the sea, and the ground troops did the shore. They provided crucial strength to the Allies march up the Solomon Islands chain towards the home island of Japan.

After the Solomons were secure, VMF-213 returned to the states to re-organize, and to incorporate new pilots, returning to the Pacific aboard the carrier Essex.

This website is mainly about VMF-213 while they were groundbased in the Solomon Islands. Others are better able to tell the tale of their assignment to the aircraft carrier Essex in 1945, when they, with VMF-124, were first Marine squadrons to augment carrier air groups during World War II.