Marine Aviation Training Support Group 23 Marine Aviation and Training Support Group 23 ( MATSG - 23 ) is a United States Marine Corps aviation training group that was originally established during World War II as Marine Aircraft Group 23 ( MAG - 23 ) . Squadrons from MAG - 23 , augmented by Navy and Army flying units formed the Cactus Air Force during the Battle of Guadalcanal . The group was deactivated at the end of the war and was not reactivated until January 15 , 1982 when Marine Aviation and Training Support Group NAS Lemoore was renamed MATSG - 23 . Mission . Provide administration and training support to all Marines aboard NAS Lemoore . They also provide ceremonial support for base and local events in the form of color guard s and special detail advisors . History . World War II . Marine Air Group 23 was commissioned at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa , Hawaii , as part of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing on March 1 , 1942 . The group became the first Marine aviation group to meet the Japanese in the South Pacific . They formed the forward echelon of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing ( 1st MAW ) during the Battle of Guadalcanal and landed its first units at Henderson Field , Guadalcanal on August 20 , 1942 when VMF - 223 and VMSB - 231 were flown off the USS Long Island ( CVE - 1 ) . Ten days later the group ' s rear echelon , composed of VMF - 224 and VMSB - 232 , joined the forward echelon at Henderson Field . MAG - 23 , augmented by Army and Navy land based air under the operational control of 1st MAW , furnished air support to the 1st Marine Division and Army ground forces in the struggle for Guadalcanal . Although the Group itself comprised only four Marine squadrons , personnel and aircraft of six Navy carrier squadrons , ( VS - 5 , VB - 6 , VF - 5 , VS - 71 , VT - 8 and VS - 3 ) the 67th Army Pursuit Squadron , and detachments of Marine squadrons stationed at various South Pacific bases operated with MAG - 23 . This heterogeneous group shot down 244 enemy planes in four weeks . Navy pilots accounted 44 , Army flyers , using P - 400s shot down eight . The remaining 192 were credited to Marines . The price of that score was 22 Marine pilots killed in action , three by enemy naval gunfire . From Guadalcanal MAG - 23 was transferred to the Naval Air Station San Diego where it served from November 18 , 1942 until January 9 , 1943 . The group was then transferred to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro until September 1943 . On September 19 , 1943 , the group again landed at MCAS Ewa and remained there as part of Marine Air Hawaiian Area until May 1944 . On May 8 , 1944 , the group transferred to Midway Atoll where it remained until the war ended . MAG - 23 later returned to the West Coast and was decommissioned on November 1 , 1945 . 1980s to present . Marine Aviation Training Support Group NAS Lemoore was formally activated on January 15 , 1982 with mission of providing administrative and limited logistics support to Marines permanently and temporarily assigned to Naval Air Station Lemoore in support of F / A - 18 Hornet maintenance , operations and training . On July 2 , 1982 , VMFA - 314 arrived at NAS Lemoore as the first squadron to transition to the F / A - 18 Hornet . By the end of June 1983 , the first three Marine F / A - 18 squadrons had completed their transition at VFA - 125 . Over the years , F / A - 18 training switched from whole units to individual Marines destined to replace Marines in the Fleet Marine Force . In May 2000 , the Commandant of the Marine Corps directed the re - designation of MATSG NAS Lemoore as Marine Aviation Trainings Support Group 23 . All Marine Aviation Training Support Groups were redesignated to promote a sense of Marine Corps identity and tradition and allows them and their history to live on .