1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery History

The 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery was constituted 1 July 1916 in the Regular Army as Troops A and B, 19th Cavalry, and organized 11 June 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont.  The battalion converted, consolidated, and redesignated 1 November 1917 as Battery A, 77th Field Artillery (77th Field Artillery assigned 19 November 1917 to the 4th Division).  They were inactivated 21 September 1921 at Camp Lewis, Washington.  (77th Field Artillery relieved 24 March 1923 from assignment to the 4th Division and assigned to the 7th Division; relieved 1 January 1930 from assignment to the 7th Division and assigned to the 4th Division).

The unit activated 1 January 1935 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (77th Field Artillery relieved 16 October 1939 from assignment to the 4th Division), and reorganized and redesignated 24 February 1944 as Battery A, 634th Field Artillery Battalion.  They were again redesignated 15 May 1945 as Battery A, 77th Field Artillery Battalion before returning to the United States, inactivated 4 January 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and disbanded 1 August 1946.

The battalion was reconstituted 20 December 1956 in the Regular Army as Battery A, 634th Field Artillery Rocket Battalion, and activated 1 January 1957 at Fort Hood, Texas.  The unit was reorganized and redesignated 25 June 1958 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Missile Battalion, 77th Artillery (organic elements constituted 1 June 1958 and activated 25 June 1958).  The battalion inactivated 25 June 1959 in Germany.  

The unit redesignated 1 July 1960 as the 1st Howitzer Battalion, 77th Artillery, assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division, and activated in Korea, where they redesignated 1 September 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 77th Artillery, and again redesignated 1 September 1971 as the 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery.  The battalion was inactivated 16 June 1986 at Fort Hood, Texas, and relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division.  

They were assigned 17 August 1986 to the 194th Armored Brigade and activated at Fort Knox, Kentucky.  Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery, reorganized and redesignated 17 September 1990 as Battery A, 77th Field Artillery, and remained assigned to the 194th Armored Brigade (remainder of battalion concurrently inactivated).  The battery inactivated 29 June 1995 at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and relieved from assignment to the 194th Armored Brigade.  

A Battery redesignated 16 June 1996 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery, and activated at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (organic elements concurrently activated as an MLRS battalion).  The battalion redesignated 1 October 2005 as the 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment, and inactivated 15 March 2007 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.  

The unit was assigned 16 March 2008 to the 172d Infantry Brigade and activated in Schweinfurt, Germany. The battalion was again reactivated 17 March in Schweinfurt, Germany as an M109A6 Paladin Self propelled Howitzer Battalion. The battalion was then the most modern and lethal artillery battalion in the United States Army, just being fielded with embedded hardware and sofware to fire the Excalibur GPS guided projectile. The battalion deployed to Iraq in sopport of the War On Terrorism in November 2008. Elements of the Battalion were also deployed several times each year in 2009 to 2012 where they were awarded Meritorious Unit Commendations (MUC).

The Battalion was inactivated along with their parent unit, the 172nd Infantry Brigade. The 1st Battalion went silent in Schweinfurt, Germany on 15 May 2013 while the Brigade went 31 may 2013.

CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT

	World War I	Vietnam
	*Aisne-Marne	*Defense
	*St Mihiel	*Counteroffensive
	*Meuse-Argonne	*Counteroffensive, Phase II
	*Champaigne 1918	*Counteroffensive, Phase III
	*Lorraine 1918	*Tet Counteroffensive
		*Counteroffensive, Phase IV
	World War II	*Counteroffensive, Phase V
	*Sicily (with arrowhead)	*Counteroffensive, Phase VI
	*Naples-Foggia	*Tet 69/Counteroffensive
	*Anzio	*Summer-Fall 1969
	*Rome-Arno	*Winter-Spring 1970
	*Southern France (with arrowhead)	*Sanctuary Counteroffensive
	North Apinnies	*Counteroffensive, Phase VII
	*Rhineland
	*Ardennes-Alsace	War on Terrorism
	*Central Europe	Iraq:
	Po Valley	*Iraqi Governance
		*National Resolution

UNIT DECORATIONS

Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered PLEIKU PROVINCE (1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery, cited; DA GO 40, 1967) 

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Updated 14 March 2019