2nd Battalion - 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment
The 2nd Battalion, 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment was originally constituted on 2 February 1907 in the Regular Army as the 138th Company, Coast Artillery Corps. It was organized in August 1907 at Fort Mott, NJ.
The unit was subsequently redesignated in August 1916 as the 1st Company, Fort Mills (Philippine Islands); on 31 August 1917 as the 1st Company, Coast Defense of Manila and Subic Bays; and on 30 June 1922 as the 138th Company, Coast Artillery Corps. It inactivated on 18 December 1922 in the Philippine Islands.
It was redesignated on 1 July 1924 as Battery C, 43d Coast Artillery. It disbanded on 14 June 1944.
The unit was reconstituted on 28 June 1950 in the Regular Army, at which point it was concurrently consolidated with Battery A, 61st Field Artillery Battalion (active), which itself has been constituted on 16 December 1940 in the Regular Army as Battery A, 61st Field Artillery Battalion, an element of the 1st Cavalry Division, and activated on 3 January 1941 at Fort Bliss, TX. The consolidated unit was designated as Battery A, 61st Field Artillery Battalion, an element of the 1st Cavalry Division. It inactivated on 15 October 1957 in Japan and was relieved from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division.
It was redesignated on 12 August 1958 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Missile Battalion, 43d Artillery (its organic elements were concurrently constituted). The battalion activated on 1 September 1958 at Redmand, WA. It inactivated on 25 March at Turner Air Force Base, GA.
The unit was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as the 2nd Missile Battalion, 43d Air Defense Artillery, and on 1 January 1984 as the 2nd Battalion, 43d Air Defense Artillery, and activated at Fort Bliss, TX.
As of mid-2001, 2-43 ADA had recently been deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operation Southern Watch.
