The 320th Field Artillery Regiment was originally constituted as Battery A, 320th Field Artillery Regiment in the National Army on 5 August 1917. An element of the 82nd Division, the Battery fought in three Allied offensives during 1918 and returned to the United States, where it was demobilized in May 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey.
Reconstituted with the same designations but in the Organized Reserves in June 1921, the unit would eventually be redesignated as Battery A, Glider Field Artillery Battalion. The unit fought in six campaigns in Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany, earning a Presidential Unit Citation for action at Ste. Mere Eglise. This award was complemented by several military decorations from several Allied nations, including a French Croix de Guerre and Fourragere, the Netherlands’ Military Order of William and Orange Lanyard, and a Belgian Fourragere 1940 for its two citations in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for combat in the Ardennes, Belgium, and Germany.
Several reorganizations and redesignations would follow for the Battery over the fifteen years or so, culminating with its redesignation as HQ and HQ Battery, 1st Battalion, 320th Artillery and assignment to the 82nd Airborne Division on 15 November 1962. Activated three weeks later, the unit saw no combat in Vietnam and was redesignated as 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery on 1 September 1971 but remained assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division.
That assignment ended fifteen years later when it was reassigned to the 101st Airborne Division on 2 October 1986 and fought with the Division during the Gulf War of 1990-1991, earning battle honors for two campaigns. In 2003, the Battalion was deployed to the Middle East again, this time in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, where it earned a Meritorious Unit Commendation before it was reassigned from assignment to the Division and instead became part of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division in 2004.
On 1 October 2005, it was given its current designation of 1st Battalion, 320th Field Artillery. Since then, the service of the Battalion as whole has been recognized with two Meritorious Unit Commendations, while its HQ and HQ Battery and Batteries A and B were selected individually for a Presidential Unit Citation (for service from Julu 2010 to August 2010) and a Valorous Unit Award (June 2010 to April 2011); this does not include awards for smaller components such as Detachments from the Battalion’s HQ, HQ Battery, or other Batteries.
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329th Field Artillery Regiment Unit Crest (DUI)