1st Battalion - 17th Field Artillery Regiment
The 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery was constituted as Battery A, 17th Field Artillery on 1 July 1916. Immediately after its conception, the 17th saw action on the battlefields of World War I. The unit received the French Croix de Guerre on three separate occasions as a result of its service in the Aisne-Mame, St. Mihiel, and Meuse-Argonne Campaigns. In 1919, the 17th gained the distinction of being the first unit ever to raise the American Flag over a German Fortress, the Ehrenbreitstein Castle, now depicted on the Unit Crest.
During World War 11, the 17th Artillery again distinguished itself while fighting in numerous campaigns in North Africa and Western Europe. The battalion was first committed to combat with the 1st Infantry Division in Tunisia on 23 March 1943 when the 10th German Panzer Division attacked in force, penetrating, the battalion's positions before being forced back. Following the end of the North African Campaign, the 17th FA fought across Italy and France, crossing the Phine into Germany on 1 April, 1945. The battalion fired 150,014 rounds in support of operations in the European Theater; and earned campaign streamers for Tunisia, Sicily (w/arrowhead), Naples-Foggia, Rome-Arno, Southern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, and Central Europe; and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with gilt star.
The 17th FA participated in 10 campaigns during the Korean conflict, fighting as part of the beleaguered 8th Army within the Pusan Perimeter. The 17th remained in nearly constant combat for the duration of the war. For its actions in Korea the 17th received campaign streamers for the LJN Defensive, UN Offensive, CCF Intervention, First LTN Counteroffensive, CCF Spring Offensive, LJN Summer-Fall Offensive, Second Korean Winter, Korea Summer-Fall 1952, Third Korean Winter, and Korea Summer 1953. The battalion won the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and a Presidential Unit Citation for valor.
The 1st Battalion, 17th Field Artillery distinguished itself during Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
During the year 2000, 1-17 FA (Paladin) "Copperheads" deployed for six weeks to Yuma Proving Ground for Sense and Destroy Armor (SADARM) limited user tests. The battalion brought eight M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers and a full complement of support vehicles to Yuma to conduct four fire missions consisting of 24 rounds apiece, each at a different time of day. SADARM tests have been ongoing at Yuma Proving Ground since the late 1980s but, unlike earlier stages of testing focused on research and development, this test required that projectiles be fired in strict accordance with current Army battlefield doctrine. Targets were self-propelled howitzers and a Soviet-model command and control vehicle concealed behind protective berms and under camouflage netting in an area 12 miles from the Paladins, as they would be in combat. Each of the target howitzers was in operating condition during the test, and heaters in their gun tubes mimicked recently fired weapons.
The SADARM test also gave the battalion an opportunity to train intensively in a variety of areas. Soldiers fired more than 1,500 high-explosive rounds during their six-week stay, a number they would normally fire in an eight-month period. The unit also loaded and airdropped ammunition from a C-17 aircraft and direct-fired its howitzers against scrap vehicles. The units used its Mk. 19 and M-203 grenade launchers and fired the .50-caliber machine guns mounted on each vehicle.
Battery A successfully engaged a threat array with 96 SADARM rounds, paving the way for the further development of SADARM.
