Marine Air Warning Group 2 was commissioned on January 8, 1944 at Marine Corps Air Depot Miramar, California. The Group's mission was to make available Air Warning Squadrons for combat and to store and maintain air warning equipment until assigned to air warning squadrons going overseas. Most of the leadership in the air warning squadrons was new to the Marine Corps with most time spent learning the details of their highly technical equipment. Thus the majority of the responsibility for embarking squadrons on their way to combat fell on the Group Headquarters. Squadrons received their gear and final training while attached to MACG-2. This usually took place during a six week field evolution during which they also practiced landing operations. Eleven air warning squadrons trained and deployed from MAWG-2. The group was decommissioned on August 1, 1945.
1967-present
The group was reformed on September 1, 1967 in Danang, Vietnam as Marine Air Control Group 18 at the height of US participation in the Vietnam War. At that time the Group's component units were already involved in combat. Its Hawk battalion was among the first US Marine units to land in Vietnam. From its formation, MACG-18 and subordinated units, with attachments scattered throughout the I Corps Tactical Zone, participated in every major campaign conducted in the northern area of South Vietnam until its departure from Vietnam. In recognition of their accomplishments during the Vietnam War, MACG-18 and its units were awarded four Presidential Unit Citations, three Navy Unit Commendations and a Meritorious Unit Commendation. The Group moved from Vietnam to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan in 1971, and then to the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, Japan, in 1975. Since the end of the war in Vietnam, MACG-18 has assumed a major role in joint, combined and Marine air-ground training and contingency operation in the Western Pacific.
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. MACG-18 has been presented with the following awards:
