Official VP-40 Laging Handa Halloween Patch - U.S. Navy Patrol Squadron 40 Fighting Marlins limited-edition Halloween embroidered patch, NAS Whidbey Island.
Always Ready, always watching, and now wearing a little Halloween spirit — the Fighting Marlins bring their Laging Handa identity to one of the most collectible seasonal morale patches in the maritime patrol community.
Patrol Squadron 40 was commissioned on January 20, 1951, at NAS North Island, California, and has built one of the most storied records in Navy maritime patrol aviation. The squadron adopted its motto Laging Handa, meaning Always Ready in Tagalog, during its homeport tenure at Sangley Point in the Philippines, where crews flew patrols across the South China Sea and surrounding waters. That motto has defined the Fighting Marlins ever since, through P5M Marlin seaplanes and decades of P-3C Orion operations that concluded with a landmark final deployment spanning sustained operations from three continents. VP-40 then completed a full transition to the Boeing P-8A Poseidon in May 2020, becoming the twelfth and final active-duty Navy patrol squadron to make that shift. Today the squadron operates out of NAS Whidbey Island under Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing Ten, flying the P-8A on anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue missions across multiple fleet areas of responsibility. Halloween morale patches like this one capture the personality and unit pride that crews carry alongside their operational identity, giving the Fighting Marlins insignia a seasonal twist that still reads as unmistakably VP-40.
Perfect For: VP-40 veterans and active-duty Fighting Marlins, P-8A Poseidon and P-3C Orion aircrew, NAS Whidbey Island alumni, maritime patrol and reconnaissance collectors, Navy Halloween morale patch enthusiasts, deployment keepsake displays, challenge coin and patch boards, shadow boxes, reunion tables, and anyone building a seasonal or unit-specific Navy aviation collection that goes beyond standard squadron insignia.
Laging Handa — Always Ready, even on Halloween.
