1st Medical Brigade
"Silver Knights"
The 1st Medical Brigade is the oldest color-bearing medical unit in the United States Army. The 507th Medical Company, an element of the 13th COSCOM, completed the fielding of its UH-60As in November of 1997. The unit continued to perform lifesaving missions, but had better assets with which to do that vital job. The 82nd Med Co. at Fort Riley, Kansas, began its fielding of the UN-60A in FY99. The completion of the 82nd Med Co.'s fielding resulted in the removal of the UH-1 from the III Corps active-duty inventory. Many were sad to see the old workhorse leave, the the "sound of freedom" continues with III Corps leading the way with more modern and lethal helicopters.
The 1st Medical Group was organized in France in 1917 as the 1st Sanitary Train from units which had been deployed along the Mexican border. It was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, the first American Unit committed to offensive operations in World War I. It is this event, the Battle of Cantigny on 28 May 1918, which the unit's organization day commemorates. During World War I, the unit evacuated and treated over 20,000 casualties, to include the first Americans wounded in action, the first wounded Germans captured by the Americans, and the first casualties resulting from a German gas attack against American troops. Conditions in France were rough, and medics of the 1st Sanitary Train often had to carry litter patients over 1,000 meters through trenches filled knee-deep with mud and water.
In 1919, the Train returned to the United States, and in 1921 was reorganized as the 1st Medical Regiment and was stationed at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania where it served as the demonstration unit for the Medical Field Service School. In 1937, elements of the Regiment deployed to Kentucky, where they provided disaster relief following a devastation flood. In 1939, the Regiment again deployed, this time to Gettysburg, where they provided medical support for participants in the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg.
In 1943, the Regiment was broken up and its headquarters was redesignated as the 1st Medical Group. In 1944, the Group entered the European theater of operations where it provided medical support to the Ninth U.S. Army. In 1945, the Group returned to the United States, where it was inactivated at Fort Benning, Georgia.
In 1950, the Group was reactivated in Frankfurt, Germany, where it provided hospitalization, evacuation, dental, and veterinary services to allied personnel. In 1954, the group moved to Verdun, France, where it was inactivated in 1962.
In 1968, the Group was again activated, this time at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where it was attached to the Medical Field Service School and given the mission of training newly activated medical units prior to their deployment to the Republic of Vietnam. In 1975, the Group deployed to Guam to support Operation New Life, a large scale support project for Southeast Asian refugees. In 1977, the Group moved to Fort Hood, Texas, where it continues to provide Corps-level medical support to the III (U.S.) Corps.
In October of 1990, HHD, 1st Medical Group, deployed to Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm.
On 6 June 2000, the 1st Medical Group was redesignated the 1st Medical Brigade.
The Brigade has operational control over nine separate battalions in four different states. Three of these battalions are currently located at Fort Hood while the remaining units are located at Forts Carson, Sam Houston, Bliss, Riley and Polk.
The 1st Medical Brigade also supports Darnall Army Community Hospital and is the chief proponent for sponsoring the Expert Field Medical Badge competition at Fort Hood.
