66th Armor
(Iron Knights)
Lineage and Honors Information as of 9 June 1997
66th Armor Lineage
Organized in August 1918 in the American Expeditionary Forces in France as Headquarters and Headquarters Companies, 1st and 2d Provisional Brigades, Tank Corps
Redesignated 6 November 1918 as Headquarters and Headquarters Companies, 304th and 305th Brigades, Tank Corps, respectively
Consolidated and redesignated 22 June 1921 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Tank Group
Reorganized and redesignated 1 September 1929 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Tank Regiment; remainder of the 1st Tank Regiment organized from existing units as follows:
16th Tank Battalion reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (16th Tank Battalion organized in 1918 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 327th Battalion, Tank Corps, and Company C, 1st Separate Battalion, Heavy Tank Service, 65th Engineers)
15th Tank Battalion reorganized and redesignated as the 2d Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (15th Tank Battalion organized in 1918 as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, and Companies A and C, 1st Battalion, 1st Tank Center, and Company A, 1st Separate Battalion, Heavy Tank Service, 65th Engineers)
18th Tank Battalion redesignated as the 3d Battalion, 1st Tank Regiment (18th Tank Battalion organized in 1918 as the 329th Battalion, Tank Corps, and Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 328th Battalion, Tank Corps; inactivated 29 July 1922)
21st Tank Maintenance Company redesignated as the Service Company (21st Tank Maintenance Company organized in 1918 as the 316th Repair and Salvage Company, Tank Corps)
(3d Battalion activated 16 September 1931 at Camp Devens, Massachusetts)
1st Tank Regiment converted and redesignated 25 October 1932 as the 66th Infantry (Light Tanks)
(Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 66th Infantry [Light Tanks] inactivated 1 September 1938 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland; Headquarters Company activated 16 October 1939 at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland; Headquarters activated 10 January 1940)
Converted and redesignated 15 July 1940 as the 66th Armored Regiment and assigned to the 2d Armored Division
Regiment broken up 25 March 1946 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as elements of the 2d Armored Division as follows:
Regimental Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, and Company D as the 66th Tank Battalion
2d Battalion (less Company D) and Headquarters Company, 3d Battalion, as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, Companies A and B, and Service Company, 6th Tank Battalion (remainder of 6th Tank Battalion organized from elements of the 67th Armored Regiment)
Reconnaissance Company as Troop D, 82d Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, Mechanized
Service Company as the Service Company, 12th Armored Infantry Battalion
(Band as the 2d Armored Division Band hereafter - separate lineage)
3d Battalion (less Headquarters Company) and Maintenance Company disbanded
After 25 March 1946 the above units underwent changes as follows:
66th Tank Battalion redesignated 5 January 1949 as the 66th Medium Tank Battalion Redesignated 1 April 1953 as the 66th Tank Battalion Inactivated (less Company A) 1 July 1957 in Germany and relieved from assignment to the 2d Armored Division
6th Tank Battalion redesignated 31 January 1949 as the 6th Medium Tank Battalion Relieved 14 July 1950 from assignment to the 2d Armored Division Assigned 29 October 1950 to the 24th Infantry Division Redesignated 10 November 1951 as the 6th Tank Battalion Inactivated 5 June 1958 in Korea and relieved from assignment to the 24th Infantry Division
Troop D, 82d Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron, redesignated 17 January 1948 as Company D, 82d Reconnaissance Battalion Inactivated 1 July 1957 in Germany and relieved from assignment to the 2d Armored Division
Service Company, 12th Armored Infantry Battalion, redesignated 11 October 1948 as Company D, 12th Armored Infantry Battalion Inactivated 1 July 1957 in Germany and relieved from assignment to the 2d Armored Division
Maintenance Company and Companies G, H, and I, 66th Armored Regiment, reconstituted 1 July 1957 in the Regular Army
6th Tank Battalion (less Companies C and D); 66th Tank Battalion; Company D, 82d Reconnaissance Battalion; Company D, 12th Armored Infantry Battalion; and the Maintenance Company and Companies G, H, I, 66th Armored Regiment, consolidated, reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1957 as the 66th Armor, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System (Companies C and D, 6th Tank Battalion reorganized and redesignated as elements of the 67th Armor -- hereafter separate lineages)
Withdrawn 1 October 1983 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System
66th Armor Honors
Campaign Participation Credit
World War I: Somme Offensive; St. Mihiel; Meuse-Argonne
World War II: Algeria-French Morocco (with arrowhead); Sicily (with arrowhead); Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe
Korean War: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter; Korea, Summer 1953
Southwest Asia: Defense of Saudi Arabia; Liberation and Defense of Kuwait; Cease-Fire
Decorations
Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered NORMANDY
Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered VIRE RIVER
Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Streamer embroidered ROER RIVER
Valorous Unit Award, Streamer embroidered IRAQ-KUWAIT
Belgian Fourragere 1940
Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in BELGIUM 1944
Cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army for action in the ARDENNES