65th Engineer Battalion
The 25th Infantry Division is located at Schofield Barracks in central Oahu, about twenty miles from Honolulu. Officers and soldiers from the Battalion are sent to locations all over the Pacific-Rim, as well as to the U.S. mainland. Typically, the units has annual deployments to Japan, Thailand, Korea, Australia, Singapore, the Joint Readiness Training Center, and the National Training Center, to name a few.
The battalion also supports the division's SFOR 11 deployment to Bosnia. The battalion sends a portion of the Battalion Staff and forms a Dco of approximately 80 soldiers that deploys for a six-month rotation.
The Battalion consists of a Headquarters and Headquarters Company, and two line companies - Bravo and Charlie. Alpha Company, 65th Engineer Battalion, now resides at Ft. Lewis in support of the 25th Infantry Division's 1st Brigade. The unit is responsible for performing a wide variety of missions in support of the 25th ID (L), including mine-countermine operations, obstacle emplacement, mobility missions, survivability operations, river crossings, and many more. Training for these tasks is conducted on the island of Oahu and on the island of Hawaii.
The 65th Engineer Battalion prepares for worldwide deployment and, when directed, executes mobility, counter-mobility, and survivability tasks.
The 65th Engineer Battalion was constituted on October 18, 1927 and was ordered to active service on October 1, 1941. Following Pearl Harbor, the battalion improved the defenses of Oahu, then deployed to Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. In the first U.S. Offensive of World War II, the battalion saw heavy combat in the Battle for the Island of New Georgia. The final battalion action in the Pacific was the liberation of Luzon in the Philippines. World War II ended and the battalion deployed to Japan for occupation duty.
The battalion was committed in 1950 to assist the Republic of Korea in its struggle for freedom. In 1954, the battalion returned to Schofield Barracks and was home again after 800 days in battle and 12 years of overseas duty.
In 1965, the battalion deployed to the Republic of Vietnam. For the next six years, the battalion demonstrated its ability to successfully support the combat operations of the 25th Infantry Division. In 1971, the battalion stood down and the colors returned to Oahu. The battalion was reorganized in 1972 to once again serve as the division's Combat Engineer Battalion. On May 16,1986, the battalion reorganized into a light engineer battalion providing "Sapper" support to the 25th "First in - Infantry Division (Light).
