1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment :: U.S. Army Fort Jackson

LINEAGE

The 61st Infantry Regiment was constituted on May 15, 1917, and organized in June 1917 at Gettysburg National Park in Pennsylvania. On November 17, 1917 the Regiment was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division where it received its first taste of combat. The Regiment deployed to Europe during World War I, earning four battle streamers for its gallant participation in the bloody campaigns of Saint Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Alsace and Lorraine in 1918. The 61st Infantry Regiment was inactivated at Camp Jackson, South Carolina in September of 1921.

The unit was again activated at Fort Carson, Colorado in 1962 and again assigned to the 5th Infantry Division.

The 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment was organized as a mechanized infantry battalion and deployed to Vietnam in 1968. The battalion fought bravely and received eight campaign streamers for fierce fighting along the DMZ. The battalion also received the Valorous Unit Award streamer embroidered Vietnam 1969, the Republic of Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm 1969 and 1970, and the Republic of Vietnam Civil Action Honor Medal First Class streamer 1970.

With the inactivation of the 5th Infantry Division, the 61st Infantry Regiment was withdrawn from the Combat Arms Regimental System on June 16, 1989. On the 8th of June 1993, the 61st Infantry Regiment was reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System and transferred to TRADOC. In 2003, the battalion returned from deployment to Taszar, Hungary, where they trained civilian Iraqi exiles as the Free Iraqi Forces to assist U.S. and coalition forces during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The 1st Battalion, 61st Infantry Regiment is currently assigned to Fort Jackson, South Carolina and conducts Basic Combat Training as part of the 165th Infantry Brigade.