Countywide : Purple Foxes Now Call El Toro Home

Only once before had Marine Lt. Col. George Keating seen the Irvine townhouse he purchased three years ago. That was during a brief stay with his wife and four children before he was deployed to Okinawa and then stationed in Hawaii.

Keating, the commanding officer of helicopter unit Squadron 364--better known as the Purple Foxes--was finally able to settle in his own home Thursday, after arriving with the first squadron to be transferred to El Toro Marine Corps Air Station in the past 10 years.

The squadron--which transfers troops, supplies and runs medical-evacuation missions--arrived at the welcoming ceremony with eight CH-46E Sea Knight helicopters and a reputation as being one of the most-decorated units of the Vietnam War.

Ben Williams of Laguna Beach, now a pilot for American Airlines, served as a first lieutenant with the Purple Foxes in Vietnam in June, 1969.

Reached later Thursday, he recalled how the squadron earned its acclaim in combat.

“Our casualties were high,” said Williams, who saw seven officers and 20 enlisted Marines from the unit killed during his year at Marble Mountain, near Da Nang. “But we were known as the renegades. We’d fly any time, any place, anywhere to save an American life.”

The 75-member unit--which had been based at Marine Air Facility in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii, since 1984--was transferred to El Toro to make room for another Marine squadron scheduled to be relocated to Hawaii.

After eight days aboard the USS Tarawa and a one-hour flight from San Diego, the helicopters landed early Thursday in front of their new hangar at the air station, where they are expected to stay for two years.

“It’s good to be home,” Keating said.

Officers and enlisted personnel--and one stuffed fox swaddled in a purple cloak--were greeted by family members, many who had left Hawaii three weeks earlier.

Maj. Gen. Terrence R. Dake, commanding general of the Marine aircraft wing, said: “With the reputation of the Purple Foxes, we couldn’t be more pleased to have you here with us.”

The Purple Foxes originated in 1961 as a tenant at the Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin. It had several tours of duty in Vietnam before being deactivated in 1971. It was reactivated in 1984.

More than 20 years after Vietnam, Williams still speaks highly of his now-retired commanding officer, Gene Brady, an Irvine resident.

“This guy led by love,” Williams said. “He would fly all our missions with us. He is a true American hero. We loved that man.”

Brady, also known as “Pappa Fox,” received the Navy Cross and the Purple Heart for his actions.

Brady wears a watch with a purple fox emblazoned on the face, a gift he gave to many of his troopers two years ago when they reunited in Florida.

“There was a mystique behind the Purple Foxes,” Brady said. “And it came out of combat.”