58th Infantry Regiment (United States)
| 58th Infantry Regiment | |
|---|---|
 Coat of arms | |
| Active | 1917- |
| Country |
 United States |
| Branch |
 United States Army |
| Type | Infantry |
| Motto(s) | Love of Country |
| Insignia | |
| Distinctive unit insignia |
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| U.S. Infantry Regiments | |
|---|---|
| Previous | Next |
| 57th Infantry Regiment | 59th Infantry Regiment |
The 58th Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the United States Army first established in 1917.
The regiment was organized in 1917 from the Fourth Infantry shown on the small shield. The field is blue for Infantry. The regiment served in France in the Fourth Division shown by the ivy leaf from the shoulder insignia. The torpedo commemorates the first losses of the regiment when the troopship RMS Moldavia carrying some of the regiment was torpedoed on 23 May 1918. The broken chevron commemorates the piercing of the German line between Soissons and Rheims, which are represented by the silver and golden fleurs-de-lis taken from the coat of arms of those cities respectively.
Currently the regiment may have two battalions. Since 1962, the 1st Battalion, 58th Infantry served with the 197th Infantry Brigade at Fort Benning. However, D, E, and F Companies served briefly in Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969, with the 4th Infantry Division. These companies performed long range reconnaissance missions and were later redesignated as ranger companies of the 75th Ranger Infantry Regiment (Airborne). The battalion appears to have been reflagged as the 4th Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment in the mid 1980s.[1] The 2nd Battalion, 58th Infantry Regiment was reactivated on 16 May 1987. It took over the personnel and mission of the 4th Battalion, 2nd Infantry Training Brigade. The 2nd Battalion, 58th Infantry is tasked to provide trained and ready soldiers for the Army[2] as part of the 198th Infantry Brigade.
History
The 58th Infantry was constituted on 15 May 1917 in the regular army as the 58th Infantry. Organized 5 June 1917 at Gettysburg National Park, Pennsylvania, from personnel of the 4th Infantry Regiment. Assigned to the 4th Infantry Division 19 November 1917. Inactivated 21 June 1922 at Fort George Wright, Washington, disbanded 31 July 1922.
- Reconstituted 8 April 1942 in the regular army as the 58th Infantry Regiment. Activated 24 April 1942 at Fort Lewis, Washington. Regiment broken up 26 January 1944 and its elements reorganized and redesigned as follows-
- Headquarters disbanded.
- 1st Battalion as the 203rd Infantry battalion.
- 2nd Battalion as the 204th Infantry battalion.
- 3rd Battalion as the 205th Infantry battalion.
Headquarters 58th Infantry reconstituted 10 July 1951 in the regular army and consolidated with the 203rd Infantry Battalion (Inactivated 2 March 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi) and with the 58th Armored Infantry Battalion (constituted 15 May 1917 in the regular army as the 1st Battalion 49th Infantry) and consolidated unit designated as the 58th Armored Infantry Battalion, an element of the 8th Armored Division. Relieved from the 8th Armored Division 23 July 1956. Activated 15 August 1956 in Germany; inactivated 9 August 1957 in Germany.
- 204th Infantry Battalion inactivated 8 March 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. Redesignated 30 September 1948 as the 43rd Armored Infantry Battalion. Activated 28 January 1949 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma as an element of the 2nd Armored Division. Relieved from the 2nd Armored Division and inactivated 1 July 1957 in Germany.
- 205th Infantry Battalion Inactivated 6 March 1945 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi Redesignated 18 June 1948 as the 45th Armored Infantry Battalion. and assigned to the 5th Armored Division. Activated 6 July 1948 at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. Inactivated 1 February 1950 at Camp chaffee. Relieved from the 5th Armored Division 15 February 1957.
- 58th, 43rd, and 45th Armored Infantry Battalions consolidated 1 July 1959 to form the 58th Infantry, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.
- Companies D, E, and F, 58th Infantry served in Vietnam.
- Company D deployed from Fort Lewis, WA to Vietnam on November 29, 1966 and would remain in Vietnam until 22 June 1972. Co D served as "a rifle security company attached to the 93d Military Police Battalion at Phu Thang, being transferred in 1969 to the 18th Military Police Brigade control at Qui Nhon. It was later posted to Phu Tai under the U.S. Army Support Command, Cam Ranh Bay."[3]
- Company E served as a Long Range Patrol (LRP) company to the 4th Infantry Division from 20 December 1967 – 1 February 1969, when all LRP companies were reflagged as lettered Ranger companies to the 75th Infantry Regiment. Co E 58th (LRP) would become Co K, 75th Infantry (RANGER) in 1969.[4]
- Company F served as a LRP company to the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) from 10 January 1968 – 1 February 1969 when it was reflagged as Co L, 75th Infantry (RANGER).[4] Co F, 58th Infantry (LRP) was based at Camp Eagle near Hue in I Corps, and operated in areas such as the A Shau Valley and the Roung Roung Valley, gathering vital intelligence on the NVA units operating and infiltrating into those areas.[5]
- By 1974 the 1st Battalion, 58th infantry was a mechanized infantry battalion assigned to the 197th Separate Infantry Brigade at Ft. Benning, Georgia. The brigade was reorganizing as a separate mechanized infantry brigade with a go to war mission as the XViII Airborne Corps heavy force package. During the period 1973-77 the battalion supported several important Army modernization initiatives. On return from three months of gunnery and maneuver training in 1976 at McGregor Range in New Mexico (the brigade and battalion had previously deployed from Kelley Hill Barracks at Ft. Benning, Georgia to Eglin Air Force Base, Florida for a several week joint exercise), deployed companies A and B for four months in support of the MICV (Mechanized Infantry Combat Vehicle) Developmental/Operational Tests 1 and 2. The MICV later became the Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle and the Tests also deployed the MILEs systems with their sensors, laser weapons effect systems and other force on force technologies later deployed to Ft. Irwin and the National Training Center. Company A was assigned a tank platoon and additional tank section from 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor. The company then trained and validated as a unit capable of replicating a Soviet motorized rifle battalion. Company B formed MICV configured platoons along with its M113A1 equipped platoons to operate as a U. S. ground force against a Soviet ground force. The two companies were deployed almost continuously for four months in the Turrentine Range Area and other locations on Ft. Benning performing one force on force exercise after another to develop data that eventually led to the deployment of the Bradley Fighting vehicle to the Army. At the time Company A was an over strength company of some 220 men (the then MTOE authorized 187 men) having also been selected as a unit that would retrain NCOs in over strength MOSs as infantry NCOs. A provisional 4th mechanized infantry platoon was formed. This additional platoon with the three tank sections allowed the company to render a Soviet motorized rifle battalion footprint during the force on force exercises of the tests. All of this work made important contributions to the Army's highly effective heavy force capabilities that deployed in the two following Iraq Wars.
- The 2nd Battalion, 58th Infantry was activated at Fort Hood, Texas on April 1, 1975, and assigned to the 2d Armored Division as part of Brigade 75, a program that stationed a forward brigade in Europe while maintaining three brigades at Fort Hood. The Battalion deployed to Hohenfels Training Area in Germany in October 1976 as part of the rotations in place at the time, and redeployed in March 1977, remaining at Fort Hood until inactivation on May 31, 1981. On August 28, 1987, the unit was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia as part of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.
The coat of arms was originally approved for the 58th Infantry Regiment on 18 Jun 1921. It was amended on 20 Mar 1924 to correct the shield. On 15 Aug 1942 it was redesignated for the 58th Infantry Regiment (Reinforced). The coat of arms was redesignated for the 58th Infantry on 26 November 1958.
Campaign streamers
World War I
- Aisne-Marne
- St. Mihiel
- Meuse-Argonne
- Champagne 1918
- Lorraine
World War II
- Aleutian Islands
- Rhineland
- Ardennes-Alsace
- Central Europe
Vietnam
- Counteroffensive Phase II
- Counteroffensive Phase III
- Tet Counteroffensive
- Counteroffensive Phase IV
- Counteroffensive Phase V
- Counteroffensive Phase VI
- Tet69 Counteroffensive
- Summer-Fall 1969
- Winter-Spring 1970
- Sanctuary Counteroffensive
- Counteroffensive Phase VII
- Consolidation I
- Consolidation II
- Cease-Fire
Decorations
Meritorious Unit Commendation, Streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1967-1968, Company D cited
References
- ↑ Isby and Kamps, Armies of NATO's Central Front, 1985, 381.
- ↑
- ↑ Stanton, Shelby (1981). Vietnam Order of Battle. Washington D.C.: U.S.News Books. p. 152. ISBN 0-89193-700-5.
- 1 2 Stanton, Shelby (1981). Vietnam order of battle. U.S. News Books. p. 153. ISBN 0891937005. OCLC 610931437.
- ↑ Miller, Kenn (1997). Six Silent Men Book Two. New York: Ivy Books. ISBN 0-8041-1564-8.
This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Institute of Heraldry document "58th Infantry Regiment".