377th Field Artillery Regiment

377th Field Artillery Regiment

Coat of arms
Active 1921
Country  United States
Branch Army
Type Field artillery
Motto FIRMITER ET FIDELITER (Steadfastly and Faithfully)
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia

The 377th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army.[1] A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the regiment's 2nd Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment is assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

History

First activated on 16 August 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana, as the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion (377th PFAB), the 377th PFAB, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Weisberg, participated in the development of doctrine for the employment of Parachute Artillery. After training in the United States, the battalion sailed to England, arriving in Liverpool on 18 October 1943. During late 1943 and early 1944, the battalion participated in training in preparation for Operation Overlord.[2][3]

On 6 June 1944, the 377th PFAB participated in Operation Overlord, the Normandy Invasion, parachuting onto Drop Zone A east of St. Mere Eglise in support of the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment.[4] The drop went poorly, and the battalion lost 11 of its 12 75mm pack howitzers. The Paratroopers of the battalion fought as infantrymen until replacement howitzers arrived on 14 June 1944.[5][6] The battalion executive officer, Major Louis H. Cotton, was wounded during the drop and had to be evacuated.[7]

Inactivated on 30 November 1945 after the war's end, the 377th was redesignated on 18 June 1948 as the 515th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion, allotted to the Regular Army on 25 June 1948, and activated at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, as part of the 101st, then serving as a training division that was Airborne in name only. The battalion was inactivated on 15 April 1949 at Camp Breckinridge then reactivated on site on 25 August 1950, two months after the beginning of the Korean War. It was inactivated again on 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge.

The unit was reactivated again in a training role in the 101st on 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and redesignated on 1 July 1956 the 377th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion. It was reorganized and redesignated on 25 April 1957 as the 377th Artillery, an element of the 101st Airborne Division, the colors of which were transferred, less personnel and equipment, to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for duty as a combat division.

The lineage of the battalion's Battery A was reorganized and reactivated as Battery A, 377th Artillery (Airborne), one of five field artillery batteries in the division. Battery A remained with the 101st until 21 May 1965 when the division reorganized again, this time to brigades and battalions.

Battery A was reactivated on 20 December 1968 in Vietnam as an aviation artillery battery employing observation helicopters, being co-located with the division at Gia Le. it was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as Battery A, 377th Field Artillery, and inactivated on 15 June 1986 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and relieved from assignment to the division during an Army-wide reflagging of combat units.

The lineage of Battery A was redesignated on 16 May 1996 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery (1-377th FA), and activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated), as an air assault battalion under the 18th Field Artillery Brigade (Airborne). On 1 October 2005 the battalion was redesignated as the 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment. When the brigade was reorganized and redesignated as the 18th Fires Brigade in early 2007, 1-377th was transferred to the 17th Fires Brigade at Fort Lewis, Washington, where it remained until 23 October 2013, when it was inactivated as part of Army force reductions.[8]

The lineage of Battery B followed a path similar to that of Battery A until the dawn of the Pentomic era, when it was relieved from 101st on 25 April 1957, redesignated on 19 July 1957 as Battery B, 377th Artillery, assigned on 1 September 1957 to the 82d Airborne Division and activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was inactivated 8 July 1965 at Fort Bragg when the division reorganized away from the Pentomic structure. It was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as Battery B, 377th Field Artillery, relieved on 1 April 1974 from assignment to the 82d, and concurrently redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2d Battalion, 377th Artillery, and activated in Germany (organic elements concurrently constituted and activated) in a non-Airborne role under the 210th Field Artillery Group (later Brigade), a corps-level unit. The battalion was inactivated on 16 July 1987 as part of an Army-wide reflagging of combat units.

The unit was redesignated on 15 October 2003 as Battery B, 377th Field Artillery and activated on 16 December 2003 in Afghanistan, then redesignated on 1 October 2005 as Battery B, 377th Field Artillery Regiment. It was redesignated again on 16 November 2005 as the 2d Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment and assigned to the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division (organic elements concurrently activated), again in an Airborne role.

The lineage of the former Battery C, 377th PFAB was active in the early 1960s as HHB, 3d Battalion, 377th Artillery, a unit of the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was inactivated when the assets of the 11th and the 2d Infantry Division were merged to form the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in 1965.

Lineage

Constituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as the 377th Field Artillery and assigned to the 101st Division (later redesignated as the 101st Airborne Division)

Organized in November 1921 with Headquarters at Green Bay, Wisconsin

Reorganized and redesignated 30 January 1942 as the 377th Field Artillery Battalion

Redesignated 15 August 1942 as the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion; concurrently, inactivated, withdrawn from the Organized Reserves, and allotted to the Army of the United States

Activated 16 August 1942 at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana

Inactivated 30 November 1945 in France

Redesignated (less Battery D) 18 June 1948 as the 515th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion (Battery D concurrently converted and redesignated as the Support Company, 506th Airborne Infantry - hereafter separate lineage)

Allotted 25 June 1948 to the Regular Army

Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

Inactivated 15 April 1949 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

Activated 25 August 1950 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

Inactivated 1 December 1953 at Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky

Activated 15 May 1954 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina

Redesignated 1 July 1956 as the 377th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion

Relieved 25 April 1957 from assignment to the 101st Airborne Division; concurrently, reorganized and redesignated as the 377th Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System

Redesignated 1 September 1971 as the 377th Field Artillery

Withdrawn 15 January 1996 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System

Redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 377th Field Artillery Regiment

Distinctive unit insignia

A Gold color metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches (2.86 cm) in height overall consisting of a shield blazoned: Gules, an open parachute attached to a cannon flotant across a flash Or. Attached below and to the sides of the shield a Gold scroll inscribed “FIRMITER ET FIDELITER” in Red letters.

The scarlet of the shield is for Field Artillery. The floating parachute with the cannon attached is symbolic of airborne functions of the organization. The motto: Firmiter et Fideliter (Steadfastly and Faithfully) is expressive of the characteristics of the personnel in performance of their duties.

The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion on 14 November 1942. It was redesignated for the 515th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion on 26 September 1951. It was redesignated for the 377th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion on 31 July 1956. On 26 February 1958, the insignia was redesignated for the 377th Artillery Regiment. The insignia was redesignated for the 377th Field Artillery Regiment on 25 January 1972.

Coat of arms

Gules, an open parachute attached to a cannon flotant across a flash Or.

On a wreath of the colors Or and Gules, on a mound Vert a griffin, the lower (lion) part of the first and the upper (eagle) part including wings Argent, holding in dexter talons a trident bendwise sinister Azure, the tines impaling a fleur-de-lis of the first, the shaft terminating in an arrowhead of the fifth inflamed Tenné and the sinister talons resting on the top of a shield per pale Gules and of the firth within a border of the fourth. Motto FIRMITER ET FIDELITER (Steadfastly and Faithfully).

The scarlet of the shield is for Field Artillery. The floating parachute with the cannon attached is symbolic of airborne functions of the organization.

The griffin is a fabulous animal half eagle and half lion. The eagle alludes to the organization having served with the 101st Airborne (Screaming Eagle) Division in World War II and the lion to England, where it underwent training and from whence it “took off” for its air assault drops on Normandy and the Netherlands. The trident refers to “Operation Neptune” which launched the invasion of Normandy symbolized by the fleur-de-lis, an emblem of France, impaled on the tines, and alludes to the Normandy air drop. The arrowhead and orange flames (orange is the Netherlands’ national color) refers to the air drop on the Netherlands. The red and blue shield, suggested by the coat of arms of Bastogne, refers to the gallant defense of Bastogne, and has been “surrounded by” a border in allusion to the town being surrounded by the enemy and is white to simulate snow, the action having taken place during winter. The green mound refers to the Rhineland campaign and Southern Germany.

The coat of arms was originally approved for the 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion on 14 November 1942. It was redesignated for the 515th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion on 26 September 1951. It was redesignated for the 377th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion on 31 July 1956. On 26 February 1958, the insignia was redesignated for the 377th Artillery Regiment. It was amended to add a crest to the coat of arms on 16 November 1964. The insignia was redesignated for the 377th Field Artillery Regiment on 25 January 1972.

Current configuration

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry document "377th Field Artillery Regiment".

  1. ↑ http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/fa/0377fa.htm
  2. ↑ http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/377/377.html
  3. ↑ http://books.google.com/books?id=4NpvfWCdXe4C&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=101st+airborne+377th+pfab&source=bl&ots=1YMnKMS6_o&sig=cAJAaDfqkHOnshJg7IpTNQiGhJw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vy3rUtOODsnlyAGf5oHoBg&ved=0CEgQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=101st%20airborne%20377th%20pfab&f=false
  4. ↑ http://warchronicle.com/dday/utah/plan.jpg
  5. ↑ http://warchronicle.com/dday/utah/all_american_eagles.htm
  6. ↑ http://www.ww2-airborne.us/units/377/377.html
  7. ↑ http://purpleheartsreunited.org/heart/ltc-louis-h-cotton/
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/fa/0377fa02bn.htm

External links