Constituted and activated at Fort Moultrie 9 March 1918 as the 61st Artillery from existing Regular and National Guard companies. Demobilized at Camp Upton, New York, 28 February 1919. Reconstituted 1 July 1921 as the 1st Antiaircraft Battalion and organized at Fort Monroe, Virginia. Redesignated 61st Artillery Battalion 1 June 1922. Redesignated 61st Coast Artillery Regiment 30 June 1924 and reorganized as follows-
28 June 1950 consolidated with elements of the 61st Coast Artillery Regiment which was concurrently reconstituted to form the 61st Antiaircraft Artillery Group with the following composition:
92nd Group plus Hq 2nd Hq Batry, 6lst Regiment, became Hq and Hq Btry, 61st Group
184th Battalion plus Hq and Hq Battery, 61st Regiment, became the 6lst Battalion
634th Battalion plus 1st Battn, 61st Regiment, and the 39th Battalion became the 39th Battalion.
635th Battalion plus 3d Battn, 61st Regiment, became the 52d Battalion
Group Headquarters was established at Camp Stewart, Georgia.
The 61st Battalion was redesignated as the 61st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 21 August 1950 and assigned to the 6th Armored Division, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where it was inactivated 16 March 1956.
The 39th Battalion retained its designation as an Automatic Weapons Battalion until 16 May 1957 when it was inactivated at Southampton, Germany.
The 52d Battalion was redesignated 20 October 1950 as an Automatic Weapons Battalion and served in the Korean War, being inactivated at Inchon 10 November 1951, reactivated at Camp Roberts, California, on 26 November 1952, and finally inactivated at Castle Air Force Base, California, on 15 June 1957.
reorganized and redesignated the 61st Artillery Regiment in 1958, and consolidated with the 436th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion, the 548th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion, and the 740th Antiaircraft Artillery Missile Battalion to form the present elements of the regiment. In addition, the 58th Antiaircraft Artillery Battery at Fort Bliss was reorganized and designated as Battery C, 61st Artillery and assigned to Fourth United States Army.
Distinctive unit insignia
Description
A Gold color metal and enamel device 7/8 inch in height overall blazoned as follows: Per fess dancette Argent and Sable, a thunderbolt bendwise Proper penetrating the chariot wheel of Helios winged with two dexter wings inverted forming a saltire with the first charged all counterchanged and upon the wheel the sun in splendor of the third.
Symbolism
The aim and purpose of the unit are told in pictorial form by the story from Greek mythology of the winged chariot of Helios which was brought to earth by a bolt of lightning thrown by Zeus. A summary of the story is as follows: Helios, the sun, drove across the heavens from east to west daily, in a winged chariot drawn by the celestial horses. His son, Phaeton, in order to please his mother, and to satisfy those who doubted that he was really a son of Helios, obtained permission from his father to take his place in the chariot for one day. Phaeton had scarcely taken the reins when the celestial horses, despising their weak driver, turned out of their patch and set everything on fire. When the chariot came so near the earth that the Ethiopians were blackened by the near approach of the sun, Zeus, with a well aimed bolt of lightning, wrecked the chariot and sent it plunging into the river Po. This is the first historical record of a hit being scored against an aerial target. The shield is divided by the saw tooth line taken from Lord Delaware's arms which were the basis of the coat of arms for the Coast-Defense of the Chesapeake. The upper part of the shield is white, the lower half black, for day and knight.
Background
The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 61st Artillery Battalion on 16 November 1923. It was redesignated for the 61st Coast Artillery Regiment on 12 December 1939. The insignia was redesignated for the 61st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 10 August 1955. It was redesignated for the 61st Artillery Regiment on 19 December 1958. It was redesignated for the 61st Air Defense Artillery Regiment effective 1 September 1971.
Coat of arms
Blazon
Shield
Per fess dancette Argent and Sable, a thunderbolt bendwise Proper penetrating the chariot wheel of Helios winged with two dexter wings inverted forming a saltire with the first charged all counterchanged and upon the wheel the sun in splendor of the third.
Crest
On a wreath of the colors Argent and Sable, an eagle's head erased Or. Motto NON EST AD ASTRA MOLLIS E TERRIS VIA.
Symbolism
Shield
The aim and purpose of the unit are told in pictorial form by the story from Greek mythology of the winged chariot of Helios which was brought to earth by a bolt of lightning thrown by Zeus. A summary of the story is as follows: Helios, the sun, drove across the heavens from east to west daily, in a winged chariot drawn by the celestial horses. His son, Phaeton, in order to please his mother, and to satisfy those who doubted that he was really a son of Helios, obtained permission from his father to take his place in the chariot for one day. Phaeton had scarcely taken the reins when the celestial horses, despising their weak driver, turned out of their patch and set everything on fire. When the chariot came so near the earth that the Ethiopians were blackened by the near approach of the sun, Zeus, with a well aimed bolt of lightning, wrecked the chariot and sent it plunging into the river Po. This is the first historical record of a hit being scored against an aerial target. The shield is divided by the saw tooth line taken from Lord Delaware's arms which were the basis of the coat of arms for the Coast-Defense of the Chesapeake. The upper part of the shield is white, the lower half black, for day and knight.
Crest
The crest is from the arms of James Monroe with the colors reversed, a red eagle's head on a gold shield.
Background
The coat of arms was originally approved for the 1st Antiaircraft Battalion on 25 October 1921. It was redesignated for the 61st Battalion on 10 June 1922. It was redesignated for the 61st Coast Artillery Regiment on 15 December 1939. The insignia was redesignated for the 61st Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 10 August 1955. It was redesignated for the 61st Artillery Regiment on 19 December 1958. It was redesignated for the 61st Air Defense Artillery Regiment effective 1 September 1971.
Campaign streamers
World War I
Streamer without inscription
World War II • Iceland, 1942 & 1943 • England, 1943 & 1944 • Normandy, 1944 • Northern France, 1944 • Ardennes-Alsace, 1944 • Rhineland, 1944 & 1945 • Central Europe, 1945 Korea
CCF Intervention
First UN Counteroffensive
CCF Spring Offensive
UN Summer-Fall Offensive
Decorations
Distinguished Unit Streamer embroidered ST VITH to 634th AAAbtn
