In 1955 they were tasked by the commander of United States Seventh Fleet to provide aerial reconnaissance over Fujian Province, Republic of China to determine if the People's Liberation Army were building up forces for a possible invasion of Taiwan.

They remained in Korea after the war and eventually moved to Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii in 1955 leaving their old aircraft in Japan along the way.

In July 1958 they moved to Marine Corps Air Station El Toro, California in preparation for their merge with VMJ-1.

It was the last of the VMCJs to commission and the squadron initially flew the F8U-1P, an unarmed reconnaissance variant of the Vought F-8 Crusader and the F3D-2Q, an electronic warfare version of the Douglas F3D Skyknight.

[5] The first VMCJ-1 aircraft lost in combat occurred on 13 August 1965, when an RF-8A from the Yankee Team detachment flying from the USS Coral Sea, was critically damaged by anti-aircraft artillery while photographing a North Vietnamese Navy radar installation.

[6] The squadron would depart Da Nang Air Base on 15 July 1970, after five years of combat in Vietnam having flown over 25,000 sorties with four different aircraft types (EF-10B, RF-8A, EA-6A, RF-4B), the last 11,297 hours accident free.

[6] On 3 April 1972, after the launch of the Easter Offensive by the Vietnam People's Army VMCJ-1 was ordered by the commanding general of the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing to deploy to Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Philippines to support Task Force 77 operations as part of President Nixon's response codenamed Operation Freedom Train.

[7] The squadron flew their first combat missions on 7 April and remained at NAS Cubi Point for an extended period flying in support of Operation Linebacker.

[6] In April 1972 the squadron's EA-6As were deployed to Naval Air Station Cubi Point in the Philippines to support Task Force 77 in Operations Linebacker I and II against heavily defended targets around Hanoi and Haiphong.

In April 1975, a three-plane detachment from the squadron, flying from the USS Coral Sea (CV-43), flew cover during Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of Saigon.