HMH - 463 Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 ( HMH - 463 ) is a United States Marine Corps helicopter squadron consisting of CH - 53E Super Stallion transport helicopters . The squadron , also known as " Pegasus " , is based at Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay , Hawaii and falls under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 24 ( MAG - 24 ) and the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing ( 1st MAW ) Mission . Provide assault support transport of combat troops , supplies and equipment during expeditionary , joint or combined operations . Be prepared for short - notice , worldwide employment in support of Marine Air - Ground Task Force operations . History . Early years . The squadron was originally activated as Marine Bombing Squadron 463 ( VMB - 463 ) , a fixed - wing bombing squadron , on July 20 , 1944 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point , North Carolina and assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 62 , 9th Marine Aircraft Wing . In November 1944 , the squadron was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 34 . The following February , the squadron was reassigned to Marine Operational Training Group 81 only to be deactivated on July 28 , 1945 . On July 15 , 1945 , the squadron was reactivated at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara , California as Marine Torpedo Bombing Squadron 463 ( VMTB - 463 ) and assigned to Marine Aircraft Group 51 . The following year , on March 20 , 1946 , the squadron was once again deactivated and would remain so until 1958 . The squadron was reactivated on September 1 , 1958 at Marine Corps Air Station Santa Ana , California as Marine Helicopter Transport Squadron 463 and assigned to Marine Air Group 36 , 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing and then deactivated again less than a year later on June 30 , 1959 . Vietnam War . Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 was reactivated on March 1 , 1966 at MCAS Santa Ana and assigned to Marine Wing Support Group 37 , 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing flying the CH - 53 Sea Stallion airframe . A four - plane detachment from HMH - 463 deployed to Marble Mountain , Vietnam in December 1966 . HMH - 463 was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 16 . The remainder of the squadron would deploy during May 1967 to Marble Mountain where they participated in combat operations during the Vietnam War for the next four years . One of the more different flights taken by the squadron occurred in 1968 when they participated in " Operation Bahroom " . This entailed delivering an elephant via helicopter from the airstrip at Chu Lai to the Special Forces camp at Tra Bong to work at a local saw mill . 1970 saw the squadron start to delve into bombing missions or what they termed " barrel bombing . " During this time they would fly 2 - 4 ship flights at low altitude to draw enemy fire . Once they encountered enemy contact they would then fly over the area again and drop 55 gallon drums of gasoline and napalm that were sling - loaded to the bottom of the aircraft . Usually the force of impact would ignite the barrel mixture but they would occasionally need machine gun fire from the helicopter door guns or rockets from an OV - 10 Bronco or AH - 1 Cobra . On a mission over " Charlie Ridge " just west of Danang the squadron dropped over 400 tons of the fuel mixture against entrenched North Vietnamese Army positions . After the Vietnam War , HMH - 463 relocated to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay , Hawaii in May 1971 and was reassigned to Marine Aircraft Group 24 , 1st Marine Brigade . In 1973 , HMH - 463 returned to Vietnam and participated in minesweeping operations in the Haiphong / Hon Gai Area of North Vietnam from February through July . On 26 March 1975 , HMH - 463 embarked on the USS Hancock ( CV - 19 ) at Pearl Harbor and the Hancock proceeded to Subic Bay and then on station in the Gulf of Thailand . On 12 April 1975 , the squadron participated in Operation Eagle Pull , the evacuation of Phnom Penh and 17 days later it participated in Operation Frequent Wind , the evacuation of Saigon . 1990s . In August 1990 , HMH - 463 deployed to Saudi Arabia to take part in Operation Desert Shield . The squadron remained in Southwest Asia to participate in Operation Desert Storm before returning to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in March 1991 . 2000s . In March 2006 , HMH - 463 deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom ( OIF ) , making it the first individual CH - 53D unit to be deployed to Iraq , but not the first CH - 53D to enter country for OIF / OEF . The squadron returned to MCAF Kaneohe Bay in October 2006 . In August 2009 , HMH 463 deployed to the Helmand Province , Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . They are currently stationed at Camp Leatherneck and fly in general support of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade . Unit awards . A unit citation or commendation is an award bestowed upon an organization for the action cited . Members of the unit who participated in said actions are allowed to wear on their uniforms the awarded unit citation . HMH - 463 has been presented with the following awards :