Marine Attack Squadron 231 (VMA-231) is a United States Marine Corps fixed wing attack squadron that consists of AV-8B Harrier (V/STOL) jets. The squadron, known as the "Ace of Spades", is based at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina and fall under the command of Marine Aircraft Group 14 (MAG-14) and the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing (2nd MAW). History Early years VMA-231 began in Miami, Florida as the 1st Division, Squadron 1 on February 8, 1919 — a unit that emerged from the Northern Bombing Group of Northern France in 1918. By the end of February, the newly activated squadron arrived in San Pedro de Macorís, Santo Domingo for duty with the 2nd Brigade where it served until July 1924. During its deployment to Santo Domingo, the squadron was designated Marine Observation Squadron One (VO-1M) on 1 July 1922. The squadron's insignia, the famous Ace of Spades, was designed by then-2nd Lieutenant Hayne D. Boyden, a member of the squadron. The distinctive emblem bore the letters "A" and "S". As conceived by Boyden, the ace being the first card in a suit stood for "First" while "A" and "S" represented the words "Air" and "Squadron". This design is the first official unit insignia to appear in Marine Corps aviation. From Santo Domingo the squadron traveled to San Diego, California and became the first Marine squadron on the West Coast and was designated as the aviation asset to accompany Marine Expeditionary Forces. During the West Coast interlude, the late Major General Ross E. Rowell, then a Major and Commanding Officer concentrated on training in dive-bombing tactics. Such tactics were to prove invaluable to the squadron in Nicaragua, during July 1927, where the squadron had been ordered the previous February. Shortly after its redesignation on July 1, 1927 to VO-8M, the squadron participated in the Battle of Ocotal on 16 July when ten personnel of the squadron came to the rescue of the beleaguered Marine garrison at Ocotal and executed the first recorded dive bombing attack against an organized enemy, dispersing the insurgents and saving the garrison. Among the first Marine aviators ever to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross were Major Rowell and Lieutenant Hayne D. Boyden, to whom it was awarded for their participation in the Battle of Ocotal. Returning to San Diego in 1928, the squadron traded in its World War I-era O2B-1s for new Curtiss F8C-1s and