The airlift portion of the movement began as scheduled on 9 April with the MABS-16 detachment being transported from Futema directly to Soc Trang. At 0800 Colonel Carey and part of his staff landed at Soc Trang in a twin-engine Douglas R4D Skytrain. As planned, the 400-man ARVN battalion had already established a perimeter around the airfield. Using the R4D’s radio, the crew provided landing instructions for the GV-1s of VMGR-152 and VMGR-352 which began landing and unloading their cargoes at half hour intervals. Several key American and Vietnamese military officers were on hand to watch the lead elements of SHUFLY arrive. Major General Condon, the 1st MAW commander, flew the first GV-1 into Soc Trang but departed after the aircraft had been unloaded. General Harkins and Brigadier General Le Van Nghiem, the Vietnamese commander of III Corps, also made appearances at the airstrip to welcome Colonel Carey and his Marines. Lieutenant Colonel Eldridge’s MABS-16 detachment began readying the airfield for HMM-362’s arrival shortly after the first transport aircraft had unloaded. To serve as living spaces the Marines raised 75 strongback tents, all with plywood decks. They set up a water purification system and began trucking water from the town of Soc Trang, about two and a half miles away. Within two days, 9,000 gallons of water had been purified. Other conveniences improved the camp’s living conditions. A field laundry and a mess hall were set up and by 12 April, hot meals were being served to the Marines. A post office began operations and telephones were installed to connect living and working areas. By 14 April, the day before HMM-362 was scheduled to arrive at Soc Trang, most of the airfield facilities were ready to support flight operations. An old hangar, which had been constructed by the Japanese during their World War II occupation of Indochina, had been repaired to house some of the squadron’s aircraft and equipment. The MABS-16 communications section was operational and had established radio and teletype links with MACV in Saigon and MAG-16 on Okinawa. The TAFDS had been assembled and filled with aviation fuel and MATCU-68, the air traffic control unit assigned to SHUFLY, was prepared to control flight operations.