VMF-214 Black Sheep Marine Fighting Squadron Patch

The black bar across this shield is a bend sinister, the old heraldic mark of illegitimacy, and it is there because the pilots' first choice of name was one no newspaper would print. On 13 September 1943, the pilots of VMF-214 sat down to pick a nickname under their new skipper, Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington. Captain Jack DeChant steered them to Black Sheep, which meant the same thing and could run in the papers. The sheep went on the shield, the bar stayed, and an F4U Corsair went over the top.

The squadron was commissioned on 1 July 1942 at Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, Oahu, as the Swashbucklers, and first flew F4F Wildcats. Boyington took over its 27 pilots at Turtle Bay Airfield on Espiritu Santo, and in the F4U Corsair the Black Sheep were credited with 203 enemy planes destroyed or damaged, nine aces and 97 confirmed air-to-air kills. Boyington received the Medal of Honor and the Navy Cross. On 19 March 1945 a Japanese bomber hit USS Franklin with the squadron aboard, and 32 Black Sheep were among the 772 killed. On 3 August 1950 eight F4U-4B Corsairs launched from USS Sicily against targets near Inchon, making VMF-214 the first Marine squadron in action in Korea, and it went on to the Inchon landing and the Chosin Reservoir withdrawal.

This is a shield-shaped patch 4 inches wide by 5 inches tall on a white field, with a cut edge and a sew-on backing. A blue Corsair, bent gull wings spread wide, sits across the top of the shield. Inside, the black bend sinister cuts from upper right to lower left, with the black sheep, white horn curled, standing on a blue oval at the upper left. Blue stars ring the lower right of the shield, with more beside the sheep. VMF-214 BLACKSHEEP is stitched in black block letters below.

The Black Sheep name has outlived the Corsair by decades. As VMA-214 the squadron flew the A-4 Skyhawk from 1962 to 1989 and the AV-8B Harrier II from 1989 to 2022, fielding the first operational Night Attack Harriers in June 1989. It has been home at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, Arizona, since September 1987. On 25 March 2022 it became VMFA-214 and began taking the F-35B Lightning II. Every Marine who has worn the sheep since 1943 traces it back to the same shield.

It fits a shadow box beside a model Corsair or a photo of a Harrier on the Yuma flight line, or the back of a flight jacket. It is also a good gift for a Black Sheep Marine of any era, or for the grandson who grew up hearing about Pappy Boyington. The back is sew-on, so stitch it down once and it stays. The sheep is still flying.