545th Military Police Company
The 545th Military Police Company was constituted on 15 February 1939 in the Regular Army as the Military Police Platoon, Headquarters Troop, 1st Cavalry Division.
On 4 July 1942, the unit was activated at Fort Bliss, Texas and deployed with the 1st Cavalry Division to the Pacific Theater during World War II. 1st Cavalry Division MPs participated in campaigns in New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, Leyte, and Luzon. It was during this time that the First Team's Finest suffered its first combat losses.
The unit was recognized and re-designated the 545th Military Police Company in March 1949 and shortly thereafter found itself again in the heat of battle, participating in seven campaigns on the Korean Peninsula. In October 1957 the unit was deactivated. However, the need for the First Team's Finest was once again felt, and the unit was reactivated in Korea in September 1963. Peace for the soldiers of the 545th proved short lived and they found themselves once again facing the rigors of combat in the Republic of Vietnam.
The 545th Military Police company landed in Vietnam in 1965 and arranged along the Vietnamese/Cambodian border. The 545th MP company earned a Presidential Unit Citation, a Valorous Unit Award, the Meritorious Unit Commendation with one oak leaf cluster, three Vietnamese Crosses of Gallantry; and in 1970 it was the first unit to win the Brigadier General J.P. Holland Award. The 545th truly earned the title as the United States Army's best military police company. By the time they redeployed from Southeast Asia in 1971, the 545th had participated in 13 campaigns.
The First Team's Finest settled at Fort Hood, Texas in 1971 and remained state-side for almost two decades. In September of 1990, the 545th Military Police Company deployed with the First Team to southwest Asia in support of Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. While in southwest Asia the 545th MP Company received another Meritorious Unit Commendation, marking it as the most decorated military police company in the Army. The 545th has 12 award streamers and 27 campaign participation bands on it guidon.
