Post by Anonymous Vet on Dec 24, 2002 9:57:14 GMT -5
Viet Nam
When the Vietnam conflict heated up, the 1st Battalion was called upon to face the toughest series of challenges in the Regiment's history. Deploying as a 155mm towed howitzer unit of the 1st Field Force in the I and II Corps area in 1965, the "First of the Thirtieth" supported the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions, 101st Airborne Division, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and numerous Allied units. After being attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st Battalion became an organic unit of the 1st Cav in 1968 shortly before moving south with it into the Tay Ninh region of War Zone C.
In 1966 the Battalion was the first ever to move 155mm howitzers into combat by helicopter, melding the 1st Cavalry Division's air mobility concept with the unit's heavy firepower. It was one of the first to employ the FADAC computer in combat. In over five years of combat, 1st Battalion expended over 1,260,000 rounds of timely, accurate, and deadly firepower in support of its infantry brothers and in direct fire defending its remote firebase positions against ground assaults and sapper, rocket, and mortar attacks.
These courageous actions cost the lives of 37 known Battalion members and resulted in hundreds of wounded in action. Departing Vietnam in 1971, the Battalion and its batteries had earned two Presidential Unit Citations, four Valorous Unit Awards, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, five Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry with Palm, and innumerable individual medals for valor. It had become the second most decorated of over 70 Army and Marine artillery battalions in the Vietnam war. Its other Vietnam legacy was the adoption of the "Hard Charger" radio call sign as the Battalion's (and later the Regiment's) nickname.
When the Vietnam conflict heated up, the 1st Battalion was called upon to face the toughest series of challenges in the Regiment's history. Deploying as a 155mm towed howitzer unit of the 1st Field Force in the I and II Corps area in 1965, the "First of the Thirtieth" supported the 1st and 3rd Marine Divisions, 101st Airborne Division, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), and numerous Allied units. After being attached to the 1st Cavalry Division, the 1st Battalion became an organic unit of the 1st Cav in 1968 shortly before moving south with it into the Tay Ninh region of War Zone C.
In 1966 the Battalion was the first ever to move 155mm howitzers into combat by helicopter, melding the 1st Cavalry Division's air mobility concept with the unit's heavy firepower. It was one of the first to employ the FADAC computer in combat. In over five years of combat, 1st Battalion expended over 1,260,000 rounds of timely, accurate, and deadly firepower in support of its infantry brothers and in direct fire defending its remote firebase positions against ground assaults and sapper, rocket, and mortar attacks.
These courageous actions cost the lives of 37 known Battalion members and resulted in hundreds of wounded in action. Departing Vietnam in 1971, the Battalion and its batteries had earned two Presidential Unit Citations, four Valorous Unit Awards, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, five Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry with Palm, and innumerable individual medals for valor. It had become the second most decorated of over 70 Army and Marine artillery battalions in the Vietnam war. Its other Vietnam legacy was the adoption of the "Hard Charger" radio call sign as the Battalion's (and later the Regiment's) nickname.