377th Field Artillery Regiment

377th Field Artillery Regiment

Active 1921-present
Country  United States
Branch Army
Type Field artillery
Motto(s) FIRMITER ET FIDELITER (Steadfastly and Faithfully)
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia
Unit beret flash for 2nd Battalion

The 377th Field Artillery Regiment is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. 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. Elements of the regiment have also served with the 101st Airborne Division and 82nd Airborne Division, and have seen service in World War II, Vietnam, and in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror.

History

The 377th Field Artillery Regiment was constituted in the Organized Reserves as a 75mm gun regiment in the 101st Division on 24 June 1921. Allotted to the Sixth Corps Area, the regiment was initiated on 27 October 1921. The regimental headquarters was at Green Bay, Wisconsin; 1st Battalion at Oshkosh, Wisconsin; and the 2nd Battalion at Hudson, Wisconsin, but relocated to Waupaca, Wisconsin. The regiment conducted summer training at Camp Sparta/McCoy, Wisconsin, and at Camp Knox, Kentucky.[1]

World War II

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]

Normandy

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.[2][5] The battalion executive officer, Major Louis H. Cotton, was wounded during the drop and had to be evacuated.[6]

Operation Market-Garden

During Operation Market, the 377th PFAB landed on 19 September 1944 (D+2), occupied firing positions at the landing zone, and supported 1/506th PIR's defense against a German counterattack near Zon, as well as the 502nd PIR's attack from Best toward St. Oedenrode. The battalion remained near St. Oedenrode until it was withdrawn with the division to Camp Mourmelon in France.[2]

Post-World War II and Cold War — Present

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, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.

Under the pentomic organization and the early Reorganization Objective Army Division, batteries of the Regiment served as Honest John and Little John rocket batteries in the 101st (Battery A) and 82nd (Battery B) Airborne Divisions, while Battery C served with the 11th Airborne Division in Germany from 1957-1958.[7] The rocket batteries were removed from the divisions and the batteries inactivated in the mid-1960s.

Battery C was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 3d Battalion, 377th Artillery, and activated at Fort Benning, Georgia in 1963, but inactivated in 1965 when the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) (formed with the lineage of the 11th Airborne Division) was reflagged as the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).[7]

Battery A was reactivated as an aviation battery (and later, as a Target Acquisition and Aviation Battery) in the 101st Airborne Division, and served with the division from 1968 to 1986, when the division was reorganized under the Army of Excellence organization and the battery inactivated.

Battery B was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Battalion, 377th Artillery in 1974, and served as a Lance missile battalion in the 210th Field Artillery Group (later Brigade) at Herzo Base in Herzogenaurach, Germany, until 1987.[8]

Battery A was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery, and activated at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It served as a 155mm air assault unit with the 18th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg, and with the 17th Fires Brigade at Fort Lewis, Washington, before inactivating in 2013.

Battery B was again activated in 2003, and reorganized and redesignated in 2005 as 2nd Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment, informally known as 2nd Battalion, 377th Parachute Field Artillery Regiment, or 2-377 PFAR. 2-377 PFAR is the cannon battalion assigned to 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division (4th BCT, 25th ID).

Further Operational Service by Regimental Elements

Vietnam

In 1968, Battery A was activated in Vietnam, and served as an artillery aviation battery employing observation helicopters. A/377 FA redeployed with the 101st Airborne Division in 1971, after earning campaign participation credit for eight campaigns and three Republic of Vietnam unit awards.

Operation Iraqi Freedom

1st Battalion, 377th Field Artillery Regiment deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003-2004. As a general support in the 101st Airborne Division Artillery.C Battery 1-377th FARGT is credited in firing the first artillery rounds for the 101st Airborne As they were at that moment attached to assist 3rd ID in teh spear point of the Invasion. The rest of the Brigade followed after the Asymmetric warfare was finished and met up with the Battery in Mosul. The battalion participated in combat operations from Kuwait into northern Iraq. The battalion returned to Iraq for a second time in 2005-2006, and again in 2009-2010. On the third trip, they operated in the Basra area, providing security force assistance under the 17th Fires Brigade.[9][10][11]

The 2-377 PFAR deployed to Iraq with the 4th BCT, 25th ID from 2006-2007, earning campaign participation credit for two campaigns.

Operation Enduring Freedom

Battery B, 377th Field Artillery was activated in Afghanistan in December 2003, by reflagging a separate airborne battery, deployed from its home station in Alaska. The battery continued its missions in support of Task for Geronimo, and earned campaign participation credit for a GWOT campaign before redeploying to Alaska.

The 2-377 PFAR deployed to Afghanistan with the 4th BCT, 25th ID from 2009 - 2010, and from 2011–2012, earning participation credit for three campaigns.

Current Status of Regimental Elements

Lineage & Honors

Lineage

Campaign Participation Credit

Decorations

Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in France and Belgium

Heraldry

Distinctive Unit Insignia

Coat of Arms

See also

References

  1. Clay, Steven E. The Arms: Cavalry, Field Artillery and Coast Artillery, 1919-41, vol. 2 of U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941 (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press), 877.
  2. 1 2 3 "The 101st Airborne: The 377th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion.". ww2-airborne.us. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  3. Bando, M. (2011). 101st Airborne: The Screaming Eagles at Normandy. Zenith Press. p. 94. ISBN 9780760339800. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  4. "dday/utah/plan". warchronicle.com. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  5. Roland G. Ruppenthal. "82nd and 101st Divisions on D-Day". warchronicle.com. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  6. "LTC Louis H. Cotton - Purple Hearts Reunited". purpleheartsreunited.org. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  7. 1 2 McKenney, Janice E. "3d Battalion, 377th Field Artillery." Field Artillery, Part 2. (CMH Pub 60-11-1(Part 2)). Army Lineage Series. Washington: Center of Military History. 2010: 1371. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015. <http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/060/60-11_pt2/index.html>.
  8. "210th Field Artillery Group, VII Corps Artillery." USARMYGERMANY.COM. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015.<http://www.usarmygermany.com/Sont.htm?http&&&www.usarmygermany.com/Units/FieldArtillery/USAREUR_210th%20FA%20Bde.htm>.
  9. Galloway, Spc. Maurice. "Relations building part of joint patrols." Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System. 16 April 2010. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015. <https://www.dvidshub.net/news/48701/relations-building-part-joint-patrols#.ViQ1fbtdE5o>.
  10. Galloway, Spc. Maurice. "Bravo Battery Bulldogs sniff out indirect fire hotspots." ''Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System. 11 September 2009. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015. <https://www.dvidshub.net/news/38578/bravo-battery-bulldogs-sniff-out-indirect-fire-hotspots#.ViRBLbtdHhG>.
  11. Galloway, Spc. Maurice. "1-377th Air Reactionary Force bulldogs teach Iraqi Army commandos new tricks." Defense Video & Imagery Distribution System. 7 December 2009. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015. <https://www.dvidshub.net/news/42391/1-377th-air-reactionary-force-bulldogs-teach-iraqi-army-commandos-new-tricks#.ViQ2OrtdE5o>.
  12. "Lineage and Honors Information: 2d Battalion, 377th Field Artillery". history.army.mil. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  13. 1 2 3 "Lineage and Honors Information: 377th Field Artillery Regiment." United States Army Center for Military History. 2 October 2012. Web. Accessed 18 October 2015. <http://www.history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/fa/0377fa.htm>.
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