60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment


The 60th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an air defense unit of the United States Army.

History

World War I

The regiment was constituted on 23 December 1917 in the Regular Army as the 60th Artillery, Coast Artillery Corps and organized at Fort Monroe, Virginia, comprising Regular Army companies and National Guard companies from Virginia and the District of Columbia. The regiment was sent to France to fight with the American Expeditionary Forces on the Western Front in World War I, participating in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive armed with 24 155 mm GPF guns. It was demobilized on 24 February 1919 at Fort Washington, with its National Guard companies reverting to state control.

Interwar period and World War II

The regiment was reconstituted on 26 October 1922 in the Regular Army as the 60th Artillery Battalion, Antiaircraft and organized at Fort Crockett, Texas. It was expanded, reorganized, and redesignated as the 60th Coast Artillery, with 1st Battalion organized at Fort William McKinley in Manila, Philippine Islands. The regimental headquarters was activated at the fort on 31 August 1925, with the 1st Battalion, without Batteries A and B, being simultaneously inactivated, and Battery E activated at the fort. On 1 April 1929, 1st Battalion and Battery F were activated at Fort Mills on Corregidor. The rest of the regiment was activated at Fort Mills on 30 May 1941.
It was part of USAFFE's Harbor Defenses of Manila and Subic Bays, under the Philippine Coast Artillery Command. The 60th was to provide air defense over Manila Bay and the southern tip of the Bataan Peninsula, and was equipped with 3-inch guns, 37mm Guns,.50-caliber machine guns, and Sperry searchlights. A battery, with a platoon of searchlights, was located at Fort Wint, in Subic Bay. Following the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December of that year, the Japanese invaded the Philippines. The regiment served in the Battle of Bataan and the Battle of Corregidor, and surrendered to the Japanese at the end of the latter on 6 May 1942. However, the 60th was not officially inactivated until 2 April 1946.

Cold War and parent regiment

On 1 August 1946, it was redesignated as the 60th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion and activated at Fort Bliss, Texas. It was redesignated as the 60th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion Automatic Weapons Battalion, Mobile on 7 December 1949, and became simply the 60th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion on 27 July 1950. The 60th was again inactivated on 17 June 1957 at Southampton, England. On 31 July 1959, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 60th Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System. The regiment was redesignated as the 60th Air Defense Artillery on 1 September 1971.

Battery B and 1st Battalion

The unit that became Battery B was constituted on 8 March 1898 in the Regular Army as Battery G, 7th Regiment of Artillery, and organized on 29 March at Fort Slocum. On 13 February 1901, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 77th Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery Corps. It became the 77th Company, Coast Artillery Corps on 2 February 1907, and was redesignated as the 3d Company, Fort Barrancas on 6 July 1916. It became the 3d Company, Coast Defenses of Pensacola on 31 August 1917, and was disbanded at Pensacola on 30 November 1919.
On 1 June 1922, the company was reconstituted in the Regular Army, and at the same time consolidated with the active 3rd Company, Coast Defenses of Key West to become the 77th Company, Coast Artillery Corps. On 26 October 1922, it was reorganized and redesignated as Battery B, 60th Artillery Battalion. The battery served with the unit, surrendering with it at Corregidor, and was inactivated along with the rest of the regiment in 1946. The battery was reactivated at Fort Bliss with the 60th Battalion in 1946, and inactivated at Southampton with it on 17 June 1957.
On 12 August 1958, it was redesignated as the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Missile Battalion, 60th Artillery, with its organic elements simultaneously constituted. The battalion was activated on 1 September 1958 at Gary, and dropped the Missile designation on 20 December 1965. It was redesignated on 1 September 1971 as the 1st Battalion, 60th Air Defense Artillery, before being inactivated on 30 September 1974 at Munster, Indiana.

Battery C and 2nd Battalion

The unit that became Battery C was constituted on 8 March 1898 as Battery K, 7th Regiment of Artillery, and organized on 29 March at Fort Slocum. On 13 February 1901, it was reorganized and redesignated as the 80th Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery Corps. On 2 February 1907, it transferred to the new Coast Artillery Corps. It became the 1st Company, Key West Barracks on 6 July 1916, and transferred to the Coast Defenses of Key West on 31 August 1917. It became 80th Company of the CAC again on 1 June 1922. On 26 October, it was consolidated with Battery C, 60th Artillery to become Battery C, 60th Artillery Battalion. It served with the regiment and was inactivated on 31 August 1925 at Fort William McKinley. Reactivated on 1 April 1929 at Fort Mills, it surrendered on Corregidor and was inactivated along with the rest of the 60th. The battery was reactivated at Fort Bliss with the 60th Battalion in 1946, and inactivated at Southampton with it on 17 June 1957.
On 12 August 1958, it was redesignated as the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 2nd Missile Battalion, 60th Artillery, with its organic elements simultaneously constituted. The battalion was activated on 1 September 1958 at Nike Missile Base C-54, as a Nike Ajax missile-equipped unit, part of the Chicago-Gary Defense Area. Battery A was at Base C-49, Battery C at Base C-46, and Battery D at Base C-84. It later became a Nike-Hercules unit, after which Battery D moved to Base C-61. The battalion inactivated at Base C-54 on 15 December 1961.
On 12 January 1970, it was activated at Fort Bliss as the 2nd Battalion, 60th Artillery. After training at Fort Bliss, the battalion was deployed to Europe in the summer of 1970, part of the 32d US Army Air Defense Command. It became part of the 108th Air Defense Artillery Group in 1974, which became the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in 1982. Armed with the short range M167A1 towed Vulcan Air Defense System and long range MIM-72 Chaparral surface-to-air missile launcher, the battalion provided airbase defense for Ramstein Air Base. It included three firing batteries, each with four firing platoons, eight Vulcans, and eight Chaparrals.
A Battery was initially located at Husterhoeh Kaserne and Zweibrücken Air Base, and eventually was completely relocated to the latter. Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, the 92d Ordnance Detachment, and B Battery were located at Ramstein, while C Battery at Daenner Kaserne defended the Kaiserslautern Army Depot. On 8 January 1985, the battalion was relieved from its assignment to the 108th Brigade and transferred to the 94th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, swapping places with the 94th's 2nd Battalion, 62d Air Defense Artillery.

Heraldic items

Coat of arms

World War I
World War II