| 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Active | |
| Country | United States |
| Branch | United States Army |
The 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment was originally constituted on 24 March 1923 in the Regular Army as Company A, 19th Tank Battalion. It was redesignated on 1 September 1929 as Company A, 2d Tank Regiment. It converted and was redesignated 25 October 1932 as Company A, 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks). The unit activated on 5 June 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
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Personnel of the 17th Tank Battalion, from which this organization descends, were in the 305th Brigade and therefore adopted the undifferenced arms and crest of that brigade. The colors of the shield commemorate the insignia worn by the brigade. The erupting mountain symbolizes the anti-tank mine that caused heavy losses within the 17th Tank Battalion. The crest is taken from the ancient arms of Picardy where the brigade saw all of its action.
The unit converted and was redesignated on 15 July 1940 as Company A, 67th Armored Regiment, an element of the 2nd Armored Division. It was reorganized and redesignated on 25 March 1946 as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, and remained an element of the 2d Armored Division. It was redesignated on 31 January 1949 as Company D, 6th Medium Tank Battalion (the 6th Medium Tank Battalion relieved 14 July 1950 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and reassigned 29 October 1950 to the 24th Infantry Division). It disbanded on 10 November 1951 in Korea.
The company reconstituted on 3 December 1954 in the Regular Army as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, an element of the 24th Infantry Division, and activated on 22 December 1954 in Japan. It was relieved on 1 July 1957 from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division, and concurrently reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 67th Armor, and assigned to the 2d Armored Division (with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated).
The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 July 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor. It was relieved on 21 May 1991 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. It was relieved on 16 December 1992 from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division and reassigned to the 2d Armored Division.
The 1st Battalion was relieved on 16 January 1996 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and assigned to the 4th Infantry Division.[1]
Since December 1995, the Division was thoroughly involved in the training, testing, and evaluation participating in the Division Capstone Exercise (DCX) I held at the National Training Center in the Fort Irwin Military Reservation, California in April 2001, and culminating in the DCX II held at Fort Hood, Texas, in October 2001.
In March 2003, the unit, along with the rest of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brigade moved up Highway 1 through Baghdad, Taji, and on to Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, destroying resistance from Iraqi forces. The 1–67th Armor Regiment, in conjunction with other components of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, secured and held multiple airfields and military complexes for later use by follow-on forces as far north as K2 Airfield near Bayji with all but one company of 1–67 Armor occupying FOB Scunion, which is located a short distance from Camp Freedom 1 (formerly known as Camp Warhorse). 1–67 Armor redeployed to Fort Hood with the rest of the 4th Infantry Division in April 2004.
1–67 Armor served a second tour of duty in Iraq from November 2005 to November 2006. The 1st Battalion – 67th Armor Regiment of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, was operating out of Forward Operating Base Iskandariyah, located at the Musayyib power plant near the city of Musayyib, Iraq. The unit's mission, along with that of the 2nd Brigade, was to train Iraqi Security Forces to conduct operations independent of coalition assistance. 1–67 Armor Regiment was charged with patrolling, alongside Iraqi police and Army forces, the cities of Karbala, Musayyib and Jurf as Sakhr. During this tour, the battalion conducted a wide range of missions in support of OIF 05-07. These missions included stability operations, counterinsurgency, foreign defense, and high intensity combat operations.
On 22 July 2006, the battalion fought the largest combat operation of the 4th Infantry Division's OIF 05-07 deployment. Members of the Mahdi Army ambushed D Company's 2nd Platoon, led by LT Ryan Kelley, in Musayyib. As the patrol fought its way out of the center of the city under heavy machine gun, rifle, and RPG fire, the battalion gathered combat power and moved from multiple locations to counter-attack into the city. Once the ambushed patrol made it out of the city, the battalion counter-attacked the Mahdi Army to seize the main mosque in Musayyib. Delta Company, led by CPT Irvin Oliver, 1–67 Armor led the battalion counterattack into the city on the east side of the Euphrates river while Alpha Company, led by CPT Bradley Maryoka, with a section from Delta Company, attacked in support from the west side of the Euphrates. Bravo Company, led by the Company Executive Officer, CPT Barry Wiley, followed Delta on the eastern side of the river and attacked into the center of the city along an axis west of Delta's advance. The Battalion TAC, with LTC Patrick Donahoe, the battalion commander, and CSM Earnest Barnett, the battalion command sergeant major, moved to the Tahir Iraqi Police Station west of the Route Cleveland bridge over the Euphrates where Iraqi Police Commanding General, General Qais joined the battalion commander. The 2nd Brigade/4th ID Commander, COL John Tully, also moved to the Tahir Iraqi Police Station. General Qais brought the highly trained Iraqi Police unit, "Hillah SWAT" with him and employed them with 1–67 AR specifically to clear the mosque at the center of Musayyib. Elements of the Iraqi 2nd Battalion, 4th Brigade, 8th Iraqi Division joined in the attack, successfully seizing the mosque and killing 33 militiamen. 1–67 Armor suffered no casualties, but 2/4/8 Iraqi Army had one soldier killed by enemy fire. The fight lasted over 8 hours. After the end of the fighting the battalion commander met with the city's leadership at the District Council building in Mussayib, including Themar Theban, the political leader of the Office of the Martyr Sadr.[2]
1–67 Armor returned to Fort Hood in late 2006 and cased its colors as the 2nd Brigade Combat Team moved from Fort Hood to Fort Carson, Colorado.