Officially Licensed HMM-161 Greyhawks Original Patch

Officially Licensed HMM-161 Greyhawks Original Patch — The First, The Best

Before any other Marine squadron ever lifted troops by helicopter, the Greyhawks were already in the air.

Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 161 (HMM-161) — the 'Greyhawks' — holds the distinction of being the first helicopter transport squadron in the world. Commissioned on January 15, 1951, at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California, as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 161 (HMR-161), the squadron deployed to Korea just seven months later and pioneered the concept of tactical helicopter troop lift in combat, flying over 16,500 hours across more than 18,600 sorties, moving 60,000 troops and 7.5 million pounds of cargo during the Korean War. That groundbreaking work literally wrote the book on rotary-wing assault support for the Marine Corps. The Greyhawks went on to fly two combat tours in Vietnam from 1965 to 1970, operating H-34 Seahorses and then the iconic CH-46 Sea Knight out of Phu Bai, Da Nang, and Quang Tri — including critical resupply missions under fire during the siege of Khe Sanh. In 1962, the squadron even assisted NASA by recovering astronaut Wally Schirra and his Mercury capsule from the Pacific. HMM-161 deployed for Desert Shield and Desert Storm in 1990–91, supported the UN withdrawal from Somalia in 1995, and then made four deployments to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to 2009 — logging over 50,000 Class A mishap-free flight hours, an unbreakable record for any CH-46E squadron. The Greyhawks earned the Commandant's Aviation Award, multiple CNO Safety Awards, and the Edward C. Dyer Award as Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron of the Year. Based at MCAS Miramar under MAG-16 and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, HMM-161 eventually transitioned to the MV-22 Osprey in 2009 as VMM-161 — but this original HMM-161 patch captures the proud CH-46 era of a squadron whose motto says it all: 'The First, The Best.'

Perfect For: HMM-161 and VMM-161 veterans, Greyhawk crew members and maintainers, CH-46 Sea Knight community alumni, Korea and Vietnam-era Marine aviation veterans, and anyone who respects the squadron that started it all.