1st Battalion - 67th Armor Regiment
As of January 1st, 2006, the 1st Battalion - 67th Infantry Regiment of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, was operating out of Forward Operating base Iskanderyah, located at the Musayyib power plant in 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. The 1-67 Armor Regiment were charged with patrolling, alongside Iraqi police and Army forces, the cities of Karbala, Musayyib and Jurf as Sakhr.
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, GA.
Personnel of the 17th Tank Battalion, from which this organization descends, were in the 305th Brigade and therefore adopted the undifferenced arms and crest of that brigade. The colors of the shield commemorate the insignia worn by the brigade. The erupting mountain symbolizes the antitank mine that caused heavy losses within the 17th Tank Battalion. The crest is taken from the ancient arms of Picardy where the brigade saw all of its action.
The unit converted and was redesignated on 15 July, 1940 as Company A, 67th Armored Regiment, an element of the 2d 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 Fort Irwin, California in April 2001, and culminating in the DCX II held at Fort Hood in October 2001.
In March 2003, the unit, along with the rest of 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division, deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The brigade moved up Highway 1 thru Baghdad, Taji, and on to Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, destroying resistance from Iraqi forces. The 1-67th Armor Regiment, in conjuntion 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.
The 67th Armored Regiment was composed of two M1A2 SEP equipped Tank battalions. Having been the first two Tank Battalions equipped with the most lethal, survivable advanced Main Battle Tank in the World. The 1st and 3rd battalions were assigned to the 4th Infantry Division IRON HORSE, 2d Brigade Combat Team, Fort Hood, Texas.
