1st Battalion - 75th Ranger Regiment
1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, activated on July 1, 1974, at Fort Stewart, GA, as the the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger).
Its activation came a s result of Headquarters', United States Army Forces Command, January 25, 1974, publication of General Orders 127, directing the activation of the 1st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger), with an effective date of January 31, 1974.
Selection began the following February and personnel assembled at Fort Benning, Georgia, to undergo the cadre training from March through June 1974.
11st Battalion, 75th Infantry (Ranger) participated in the 1980 Iranian hostage rescue attempts.
During the United States' deployment on October 25, 1983, to Grenada, the mission of the Rangers was to protect the lives of American citizens and restore democracy to the island. During this operation, code-named "URGENT FURY, " the 1st and 2d Ranger Battalions conducted a daring low-level parachute assault (500 feet), seized the airfield at Point Salines, rescued American citizens at the True Blue Medical Campus, and conducted air assault operations to eliminate pockets of resistance.
The 1st Battallion took part, along with the entire Ranger Regiment in OPERATION "JUST CAUSE", in which U.S. forces restored democracy to Panama. Rangers spearheaded the action by conducting two important operations. The 1st Battalion, reinforced by Company C, 3d Battalion, and a Regimental Command and Control Team, conducted an early morning parachute assault onto Omar Torrijos International Airport and Tocumen Military Airfield, to neutralize the Panamanian Defense Forces PDF 2d Rifle Company, and secure airfields for the arrival of the 82d Airborne Division.
The 2d and 3d Ranger Battalions and a Regimental Command and Control Team, conducted a parachute assault onto the airfield at Rio Hato, to neutralize the PDF 6th and! Oh Rifle Companies and seize General Manuel Noriega's beach house. Following the successful completion of these assaults, Rangers conducted follow-on operations in support of Joint Task Force (JTF)-South. The Rangers captured 1,014 Enemy Prisoners of War (EPW), and over 18,000 arms of various types. The Rangers sustained 5 killed and 42 wounded. Elements of Company B and 1st Platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment deployed to Saudi Arabia from February 12, 1991 to April 15, 1991, in support of OPERAITION DESERT STORM. The Rangers conducted raids and provided a quick reaction force in cooperation with Allied forces; there were no Ranger casualties.
