1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery (United States)

The 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment is a U.S. Army field artillery battalion consisting of three firing batteries of six M119 105mm Howitzers each and is currently assigned and directly supports the 2D BCT of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault).

World War I
Its beginnings can be traced back to America’s entry into the First World War. As part of the nation’s mobilization, the unit was first formed and organized in August 1917 as Battery A, 320th Field Artillery (FA). As part of the original 82nd Division, A Btry 320th FA played a key role at Lorraine, St Mihiel, and the Meuse Argonne region in France. Following the Armistice, the 320th demobilized, only to be reconstituted in June 1921 as part of the United States Organized Reserves.

World War II
Once the United States entered the Second World War, August 1942, when the 82nd Infantry Division was converted to an airborne division, the battalion was reorganized and redesignated as the 320th Glider Field Artillery Battalion in direct support of the 325th Glider Infantry Regiment. As part of the 82nd Airborne Division, the 320th fought in a number of hot spots. First, the 320th was part of the campaign in Sicily, acting in reserve. The unit first saw action at the Volturino River on the Italian mainland. The crucial Normandy invasion was the next stop for the 320th. Under difficult conditions, the unit helped make the invasion a success. As a result of the 320th’s actions during Operation Overlord, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation. The 320th next fought in Operation Market Garden and then went on to further distinguish itself in the Battle of the Bulge when the Germans attempted their last-ditch offensive. The 320th then fought and played a role in the final push through the Rhineland to defeat Germany. Upon the war’s end the unit completed its duties in Europe as part of the post-war occupation in Berlin.

Post-World War II
After the war, the 320th went through a number of transitions. It was inactivated on 15 December 1948 and relieved from assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division on 14 December 1950. On 1 August 1951 it was reorganized and redesignated as the 320th Airborne Field Artillery Battalion, and activated at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Post-Korean War
During the 1950s it served as the field artillery battalion of the separate 508th Airborne Regimental Combat Team. When the Army eliminated infantry regiments and battalions from division and entered the Pentomic era,  the 320th was reorganized as a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regiment System. The lineage of Battery A, 320th AFAB was reorganized and redesignated as Battery A, 320th Artillery, and assigned to the 11th Airborne Division in Germany by reflagging existing elements. (Additionally, the former Batteries B and C, 320th GFAB were reorganized and redesignated as Batteries B and C, 320th Artillery and served in the 11th.) All three batteries were inactivated and reflagged with different regimental numbers on 1 July 1958 in Germany when the 11th was inactivated and reflagged as the 24th Infantry Division. The colors of Battery A were redesignated on 15 November 1962 as HHB, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 320th Artillery, and assigned to the 82d Airborne Division (organic elements concurrently constituted). 26 April 1965, President Johnson ordered paratroopers from the 82d Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, E Company 7th Special Forces Group and Marines from the Amphibious Squadron 10 to the Dominican Republic as part of Operation Power Pack to protect American lives and to prevent a possible Castro-type takeover by Communist elements. 1st Bn 320th FA (ABN) was alerted on 28 April and ordered to move to the Dominican Republic by 1 May as part of Task Force Power Pack II, which contained two airborne infantry battalions of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment (AIR) and other supporting elements totaling 2,276 men. The remainder of the 325th AIR and 320th FA were send as part of Power Pack III a few days later.  '' On 26 May 1965, Us Forces began withdrawal from the Dominican Republic as Central and South American troops assumed Peacekeeping duties.

Post-Vietnam
On the evening of 23 October 1983, (same day as the Bombing of the Marine Barracks in Beirut) the 325th AIR, 1st Bn 320th FA (Airborne) and support units of the 2D Brigade were alerted as the 82D Airborne Division's "Division Ready Brigade" to begin its 18 hour rapid deployment sequence to execute combat operations in support of Operation Urgent Fury on the Caribbean island of Grenada. The DRF 1 (Division Ready Force Level 1) package was activated and paratroopers of 2D Brigade were "wheels up" from Pope Air Force Base within 17 hours of notice. Parts of the battalion were sent to an Intermediate Staging Base (ISB) in Barbados to await the staging of the rest of the division to concentrate the projection of forces from a shorter distance. Once Rangers from 1st & 2nd Battalions had secured Point Salinas Airport during an airborne assault of the airport, 325th AIR and 320th FA cancelled its airborne assault and air-landed at Point Salinas. Elements of B and C Battery arrived on the island during the evening of 25 October without their guns and provided rear area security in the vicinity of the runway. Early on the morning of October 26, B Battery's guns began arriving, followed closely by most of C Battery's guns. B Battery began firing direct support missions later that morning from the south side of Point Salinas airfield. Once C Battery guns arrived, that battery was repositioned to the north side of the runway near the airport terminal. From there C Battery fired numerous missions including the 30 minute prep fires for the assault by the Rangers on Calvigny Barrack. B and C redeployed to Fort Bragg early in November 1983. Combat operations continued till 15 December 1983 when last elements of the battalion redeployed to Fort Bragg, NC.

1st Battalion 320th FA (Airborne) remained a part of the 82nd until Goldwater-Nichols DOD Reorganization Act of 1986   and on 2 October 1986, 1st of the 320th FA (ABN) was relieved from assignment to the 82d Airborne Division and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault). This resulted in all three field artillery battalions in the 82nd carrying the designation of the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment (AFAR) and all in the 101st being reflagged as elements of the 320th Field Artillery Regiment. Prior to the reflagging, the 82nd had 1–319th, 1–320th, and 2–321st FA, while the 101st had 2–319th, 2–320th, and 3–321st FA.

The Gulf Wars
1st 320th AFAR next saw action in the Middle East from 1990 until 1991. As a part of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), the battalion was part of the massive US force that drove the Iraqi Army from Kuwait. The 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment remains assigned to the 101st based at Fort Campbell, KY.

Operation Iraqi Freedom V-VII


1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery Regiment under the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) was ordered to deploy to the CENTCOM AOR in late September 2005. Upon completion of a JRTC Mission Rehearsal Exercise in April 2005, it began a 5-month intensive train up to prepare for the next deployment.

LTC Rafael Torres, Jr. took command of the unit on 17 March 2005 and immediately began to prepare for Iraq. The battalion conducted live fire exercises in June and then began transitional training in motorized infantry tactics due to the change of mission for Iraq.

The battalion began deployment in August 2005. The rest of the battalion began deploying in late September to Camp Taji the second week of October 2005. Iraqi National elections were scheduled to be held on the 15th of October, equipment was delayed in Kuwait until the 20th, after the elections. The unit conducted a RIP/TOA (Relief In Place/Transfer of Authority) with 1–118th FA (Georgia Army National Guard) and the 70th Engineer Battalion (3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division) and completed the TOA on the 26th. The 1–320th detached a firing platoon from B Battery to 1–502 Infantry Battalion to conduct counter fire operations in Mahmudiyah. The battalion’s radar section deployed with the 4th BDE 101st, to the Mahmudiyah area also. While in Mahmudiyah, the Radar section conducted numerous counter-fire missions which resulted in the firing of over 1400 rounds of artillery. The 1–320th also detached a MiTT (Military Transition Team) team to work with an Iraqi Army Battalion in support of 1–22 IN and 1–10 CAV in and around Southeast Baghdad and at FOB Falcon.

1–320th FA controlled check points, conducted cordon and searches and patrolled villages with populations up to 1000 residents. The battalion detained over 100 insurgents, which resulted in a third of them being prosecuted and imprisoned at Abu Ghraib. The unit was also responsible for finding numerous weapons and ammo caches which included 100s of mortar, artillery, tank rounds and 200 pound aerial bombs; seized weapons including 8 mortar tubes, 500 rifles and RPG launchers, and thousands of rounds of small arms ammunition.

In Taji, Iraq the battalion suffered 6 KIAs by enemy action: SSG James E. Estep, SGT Clarence L. Floyd, SPC Matthew J. Holley, SPC Alexis Roman-Cruz, and PFC Travis J. Grigg In late November, the battalion received a change of mission to assume the duties of the Area Defense Operations Cell (ADOC) at Camp Victory located in the Victory Base Complex (VBC) surrounding the Baghdad International Airport. The 1–320th conducted a RIP/TOA with the 2–299th IN (Hawaii Army National Guard) and completed the TOA on the 7 January 2006. Its mission on Camp Victory required the 1-320th to conduct patrols in three villages neighboring the camp in Baghdad, control entry access and patrol the Al Faw Palace, as well as numerous Force Protection missions to ensure the security of the Multi-National Coalition-Iraq (MNC-I) and Multi-National Forces-Iraq (MNF-I) Headquarters on Camp Victory.
 * Master Sergeant James F. Hayes,

While conducting ADOC operations on Camp Victory, 1st 320th FA distinguished themselves by providing exceptional security and CMO operations to the VBC and surrounding villages of Al Furat, Iraqi Family Village, and Airport Village. 1–320th completed over 200 force protection improvement projects on Camp Victory and conducted over 3 million dollars in projects to improve the quality of life for our Iraqi neighbors. Meanwhile, at FOB Falcon, 16 soldiers of the "Top Guns" Battalion Military Transition Team (MiTT) were conducting continuous combat operations in support of 1–22 IN and 1–10 CAV in and around Southeast Baghdad.

In September 2006 the battalion redeployed to Fort Campbell, Kentucky. When the 101st reorganized into a modular four-brigade division and the 4th Battalion, 320th FA, was activated on 16 September 2004. Tracing its lineage to the old Battery D, 320th GFAB of World War II fame