67th Armor Regiment (United States)

The 67th Armor Regiment is an armored regiment in the United States Army first formed in 1929 in the Regular Army as the 67th Infantry Regiment (Light Tanks). It first became the 67th Armor in 1940. The regiment participated in World War I, World War II and in Desert Storm/Desert Shield.

1st Battalion, 67th Armor
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.

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.

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 for 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.

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.

Regimental lineage
Constituted 1 September 1929 in the Regular Army as the 2d Tank Regiment and organized (with only the 2d Battalion active) from new and existing units as follows:


 * Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, and Band constituted in the Regular Army


 * 19th Tank Battalion (constituted 24 March 1923 in the Regular Army) redesignated as the 1st Battalion


 * 17th Tank Battalion (organized in 1918 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company and Company B, 1st Separate Battalion, Heavy Tank Service, 65th Engineers; and Headquarters and Headquarters Company and Companies A and B, 303d Battalion, Tank Corps) reorganized and redesignated as the 2d Battalion


 * 22d Tank Maintenance Company (organized 18 July 1918 as the 306th Repair and Salvage Company, Tank Corps) redesignated as the Service Company

(2d Battalion [less Company F] inactivated 15 September 1931 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland)

2d Tank Regiment converted and redesignated 25 October 1932 as the 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks)

(Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2d Battalion, and Company D, 67th Infantry [Medium Tanks], activated 1 October 1939 at Fort Benning, Georgia; Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Band, 1st Battalion, Company E, and 3d Battalion, 67th Infantry [Medium Tanks], activated 5 June 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia)

Converted and redesignated 15 July 1940 as the 67th Armored Regiment and assigned to the 2d Armored Division

Regiment broken up 25 March 1946 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as elements of the 2d Armored Division as follows:


 * Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, and Company D as the 67th Tank Battalion
 * Companies A and C as Companies D and C, 6th Tank Battalion, respectively (remainder of 6th Tank Battalion organized from elements of the 66th Armored Regiment)


 * Headquarters and Headquarters Companies, 1st and 2d Battalions; Companies B, E, and F; the Maintenance and Service Companies and Band, disbanded

After 25 March 1946 the above units underwent changes as follows:


 * 67th Tank Battalion
 * 67th Tank Battalion redesignated 11 October 1948 as the 67th Medium Tank Battalion
 * Redesignated 1 April 1953 as the 67th Tank Battalion
 * Inactivated 1 July 1957 in Germany and relieved from assignment to the 2d Armored Division


 * Company C, 6th Tank Battalion
 * Company C, 6th Tank Battalion, redesignated 31 January 1949 as Company C, 6th Medium Tank Battalion
 * (6th Medium Tank Battalion relieved 14 July 1950 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division; assigned 29 October 1950 to the 24th Infantry Division)
 * Redesignated 10 November 1951 as Company C, 6th Tank Battalion
 * Inactivated 5 June 1958 in Korea and relieved from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division


 * HHC and support units
 * Headquarters and Headquarters Companies, 1st and 2d Battalions; Companies B, E, and F; and Maintenance and Service Companies, 67th Armored Regiment, reconstituted 6 February 1947 in the Organized Reserves as the 321st Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron
 * Activated 21 February 1947 at Boston, Massachusetts
 * Reorganized and redesignated 21 October 1948 as the 1st Battalion, 304th Armored Cavalry
 * Inactivated 31 July 1950 at Boston, Massachusetts
 * Withdrawn 17 August 1950 from the Organized Reserve Corps, redesignated (less the Assault Gun and Tank Companies) as the 57th Medium Tank Battalion, and allotted to the Regular Army
 * Assigned 20 October 1950 to the 2d Armored Division
 * Activated 10 November 1950 at Fort Hood, Texas

Reorganized and redesignated 1 April 1953 as the 57th Tank Battalion Inactivated 1 July 1957 in Germany and relieved from assignment to the 2d Armored Division

57th and 67th Tank Battalions, and Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, consolidated, reorganized, and redesignated 1 July 1957 as the 67th Armor, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System.

Campaign participation credit
World War I: Somme Offensive

World War II: Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead); Sicily (with arrowhead); Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe

Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia; Liberation and Defense of Kuwait; Cease-Fire

Decorations

 * Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered NORMANDY
 * Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered SIEGFRIED LINE
 * Valorous Unit Award, Streamer embroidered IRAQ-KUWAIT
 * Navy Unit Commendation, Streamer embroidered SAUDI ARABIA-KUWAIT
 * Belgian Fourragere 1940
 * Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in BELGIUM
 * Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in the ARDENNES