Air Warning Squadron 1 was commissioned on September 1, 1943 at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, North Carolina. It was the first early warning squadron organized under the newly established 1st Marine Air Warning Group The squadron's initial Table of organization and equipment had 14 officers and 192 enlisted Marines assigned. On November 15 the squadron boarded trains in North Carolina bound for the West Coast. It arrived on November 22, 1943 at Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California and began a short period of additional training prior to deployment.