The 67th Armored Regiment is an armored regiment in the United States Army. The regiment was first formed in 1929 in the Regular Army as the 2nd Tank Regiment (Heavy) and redesignated as the 67th Infantry Regiment (Medium Tanks) in 1932. It first became the 67th Armor in 1940. The regiment participated in World War I, World War II, Desert Storm/Desert Shield, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Spartan Shield, Operation Inherent Resolve, Operation Resolute Support, and Operation Freedom's Sentinel.
Previous unit designated "67th Infantry Regiment"
The 67th Infantry Regiment was active during World War I from 1917 to 1919, but is not lineally related to the later 67th Infantry Regiment/Armored Regiment.
Origins The regiment was constituted in the Regular Army as the 2nd Tank Regiment (Heavy) on 1 September 1929, assigned to the General Headquarters Reserve and allotted to the Third Corps Area. The 1st Battalion was redesignated from the 19th Tank Battalion (Heavy), a Regular Army Inactive unit, and the 2nd Battalion from the 17th Tank Battalion (Heavy), an active unit stationed at Camp George G. Meade. The 3rd Battalion was constituted as a new unit, but not activated, and the regimental headquarters was not active. The regimental service company was redesignated from the inactive 22nd Tank Maintenance Company. In commemoration of the service of predecessor units of the 17th Tank Battalion in World War I, the regiment would receive a streamer for actions during the Somme Offensive. Except for Company F, the 2nd Battalion was inactivated on 15 September 1931. Only partially active, the regiment was redesignated as the 67th Infantry Regiment (Medium Tanks) on 25 October 1932. The regimental headquarters was organized on 4 April 1936 as a Regular Army Inactive unit with Organized Reserve personnel on 4 April 1936 at Columbus, Georgia.
Coat of Arms The 67th Armored Regiment Coat of Arms is described as follows by the United States Army Heraldry unit.
Description/Blazon Per fess Gules and Or, a mount Azure erupting and smoking Proper. On a wreath of the colors Or and Gules, a lion rampant Sable. None.
Symbolism The personnel of the 17th Tank Battalion, from which this organization descends, were in the old 305th Brigade and, therefore, adopted the undifferenced arms of that Brigade. The erupting mount symbolizes the anti-tank mines which caused heavy losses within the 17th Tank Battalion. The colors of the shield commemorate the insignia worn by the Brigade. The personnel of the 17th Tank Battalion, from which this organization descends, were in the old 305th Brigade and, therefore, adopted the undifferenced crest of that Brigade. The crest is taken from the ancient arms of Picardy, where the Brigade did all of its fighting.
Background The coat of arms was originally approved for the 17th Tank Battalion on 12 July 1921. It was reassigned for the 2d Tank Regiment on 10 July 1930. It was reassigned for the 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks) on 17 November 1932. The insignia was redesignated for the 67th Armored Regiment on 6 April 1942. It was redesignated for the 67th Medium Tank Battalion on 8 January 1951. The insignia was redesignated for the 67th Armor Regiment on 4 November 1958.
Distinctive Unit Insignia The 67th Armored Regiment regimental unit insignia is described as follows by the United States Army Heraldry unit.
Description/Blazon A Gold color metal and enamel device 1 1/8 inches (2.86 cm) in height consisting of a shield blazoned: Per fess Gules and Or, a mount Azure erupting and smoking Proper.
Symbolism The personnel of the 17th Tank Battalion, from which this organization descends, were in the old 305th Brigade and, therefore, adopted the undifferenced arms and crest of that Brigade. The erupting mount symbolizes the anti-tank mines which caused heavy losses within the 17th Tank Battalion. The colors of the shield commemorate the insignia worn by the Brigade.
Background The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 17th Tank Battalion on 14 August 1923. It was reassigned for the 2d Tank Regiment on 11 July 1930. It was reassigned for the 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks) on 16 November 1932. The insignia was redesignated for the 67th Armored Regiment on 6 April 1942. It was redesignated for the 67th Medium Tank Battalion on 8 January 1951. The insignia was redesignated for the 67th Armor Regiment on 4 November 1958.
World War II After the outbreak of World War II, the armored forces were expanded. At Fort Benning, the 2nd Battalion and Company D were reactivated on 1 October 1939, followed by the remainder of the regiment, excluding the reserve personnel, on 5 June 1940. Colonel Douglass T. Greene was assigned as its commander. The assigned reserve officers conducted summer training with the active personnel at Fort Benning. The regiment was redesignated as the 67th Armored Regiment of the 2nd Armored Division on 15 July 1940. The regiment trained with the division in Georgia, Louisiana, and the Carolinas.
In 1942, the regiment and its division were sent overseas and saw their first action in Operation Torch, in which they landed at Casablanca. The regiment fought in the Allied invasion of Sicily with the division in 1943, then went to England. There, the regiment and the division trained for Operation Overlord, landing in Normandy on 9 June 1944. The regiment, less the 3rd Battalion, was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for its performance during Operation Cobra, the breakthrough of German positions west of Saint-Lô. The regiment and division fought in the Allied advance from Paris to the Rhine, crossing the German border in September.
For its actions in the division's attack on the Siegfried Line in early October, the 2nd Battalion of the regiment received the Presidential Unit Citation. After the attack on the Siegfried Line stalled, the division held its positions along the Roer River and in December was ordered to the Ardennes after the German attack in the Battle of the Bulge. The regiment and division helped reduce the German bulge into Allied lines and received the Belgian Fourragère for their actions. After a brief rest in February, the 2nd Armored attacked across the Rhine in March 1945 and then the Elbe in the final weeks of the war. With the division, the regiment entered Berlin in July.
Cold War After the end of the war, the regiment returned to the United States with the division in 1946. There, it was broken up and redesignated as the 67th Tank Battalion, while some elements became part of the 6th Tank Battalion. The 67th Tank Battalion remained with the 2nd Armored Division until it was inactivated in 1957. When the Korean War began, the 6th Tank Battalion sent to Korea to join the 24th Infantry Division. The 6th remained in Korea with the 24th and was inactivated in 1958. The lineage of elements of the 67th Armored Regiment disbanded in 1946 was continued by the 321st Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, a Boston-based Organized Reserve Corps unit that became 1st Battalion, 304th Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1948. The battalion was inactivated two years later and its designation returned to the Regular Army, becoming the 57th Tank Battalion. The latter was activated at Fort Hood as part of the 2nd Armored Division in 1950, and went to Germany with the division soon afterwards before being inactivated in West Germany in 1957.
When the army abolished regiments as a tactical unit due to their obsolescence in the Cold War, the lineages of former elements of the 67th Armored Regiment were consolidated to become the 67th Armor, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, on 1 July 1957. The 1st Battalion (1-67 Armor) of the regiment was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division. The 2nd Battalion (2-67 Armor) was assigned to the 4th Armored Division and in 1963 transferred to the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood. 2-67 Armor was inactivated in 1983.
The 3rd and 4th Battalions of the 67th Armor were designated and activated as Army Reserve units in 1959, with 3-67 Armor in Florida and 4-67 Armor in West Virginia. 4-67 Armor was headquartered at Wheeling with Company A at Weirton and Companies B and C at Steubenville. 3-67 Armor was inactivated in 1964 to become the 5th Battalion, 67th Armor (5-67 Armor). Both reserve battalions were inactivated in 1968 during reductions of the army reserve.
The 3-67 Armor lineage returned to the Regular Army when the battalion was activated on 1 March 1975 with the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood.
On 17 May 1986 the 67th Armor was withdrawn from CARS and reorganized under the new U.S. Army Regimental System with its home base at Fort Hood, the garrison of the senior battalion (1-67 Armor). In a series of army reflaggings on 16 June 1986, the 2nd and 4th Battalions of the regiment were reflagged from the 3rd and 1st Battalions of the 32nd Armor, respectively, stationed at Ray Barracks in Friedberg, West Germany with the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Armored Division.
1990s, Iraq, and Afghanistan The post-Cold War reduction of the army resulted in rapid organizational change for the battalions of the regiment. 1-67 and 3-67 Armor became part of the 1st Cavalry Division on 21 May 1991, then returned to the reactivated 2nd Armored Division on 16 December 1992. Both units became part of the 4th Infantry Division on 16 January 1996 when it was reflagged from the 2nd Armored. 2-67 and 4-67 Armor fought in the Gulf War with the 3rd Armored Division, while 4-67 was part of the 3rd Brigade during Operation Desert Storm and joined 2-67 in the 1st Brigade later. After they returned to Germany, the 3rd Armored continued its inactivation, during which both battalions were transferred to the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division on 15 August 1991. 2-67 and 4-67 Armor were reflagged as the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 37th Armor, respectively, on 16 February 1997.
The 67th Armor parent regiment was redesignated as the 67th Armored Regiment on 1 October 2005 when the army reintroduced the designation of regiment to regimental titles.
1st Battalion, 67th Armored The 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment was originally constituted on 24 March 1923 in the Regular Army as Company A, 19th Tank Battalion. It was redesignated on 1 September 1929 as Company A, 2d Tank Regiment. It converted and was redesignated 25 October 1932 as Company A, 67th Infantry (Medium Tanks). The unit activated on 5 June 1940 at Fort Benning, Georgia.
The unit converted and was redesignated on 15 July 1940 as Company A, 67th Armored Regiment, an element of the 2nd Armored Division. It was reorganized and redesignated on 25 March 1946 as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, and remained an element of the 2d Armored Division. It was redesignated on 31 January 1949 as Company D, 6th Medium Tank Battalion (the 6th Medium Tank Battalion relieved 14 July 1950 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and reassigned 29 October 1950 to the 24th Infantry Division). It disbanded on 10 November 1951 in Korea.
The company reconstituted on 3 December 1954 in the Regular Army as Company D, 6th Tank Battalion, an element of the 24th Infantry Division, and activated on 22 December 1954 in Japan. It was relieved on 1 July 1957 from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division, and concurrently reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Medium Tank Battalion, 67th Armor, and assigned to the 2d Armored Division (with its organic elements concurrently constituted and activated).
The unit was reorganized and redesignated on 1 July 1963 as the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor. It was relieved on 21 May 1991 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division. It was relieved on 16 December 1992 from assignment to the 1st Cavalry Division and reassigned to the 2d Armored Division.