Officially Licensed USMC VMM-261 Raging Bulls Leather Patches

Officially Licensed USMC VMM-261 Raging Bulls Leather Patches — Seven Decades of Charging Into the Fight

From Da Nang in UH-34s to Helmand Province in Ospreys, the Raging Bulls have never stopped running.

Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261 (VMM-261), the 'Raging Bulls,' is one of the most storied assault support squadrons in the Marine Corps. Commissioned on April 5, 1951, at MCAS Cherry Point as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 261, the Bulls were among the earliest Marine helicopter units and became the first helicopter squadron to conduct troop lifts on the East Coast. After relocating to MCAS New River, the squadron deployed to Vietnam for multiple combat tours in the 1960s, flying the UH-34D out of Da Nang, Marble Mountain, and Chu Lai. During their 1965–66 tour alone, HMM-261 flew over 11,800 combat hours, executed 38,090 combat sorties, transported 47,522 troops into battle, and medevaced 2,315 wounded. The Bulls went on to serve in Grenada, Beirut — where they flew over 800 American and Lebanese citizens to safety after the Marine barracks bombing — and Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, providing medevac and assault support for the 2nd Marine Division. In 2009, VMM-261 transitioned to the MV-22B Osprey and made history as the first Osprey squadron to deploy to Afghanistan, supporting Operation Cobra's Anger. In 2014 they returned to Afghanistan as the first Marine casualty evacuation squadron since OIF, flying under the callsign 'Elvis' in direct support of MARSOC. This leather patch carries the weight of a squadron that has earned the Presidential Unit Citation, been named Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron of the Year four times, and has over seventy years of combat-proven service etched into its lineage.