7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment

Constituted 8 March 1898 in the Regular Army as the 7th Regiment of Artillery. Organized 29 March 1898 at Fort Slocum, New York under the command of Colonel William Sinclair. Order of battle information shows that batteries of the regiment deployed outside the U.S. in the Spanish–American War of 1898. However, no battle honors for this war are on the regiment's official lineage and honors certificate. Batteries C and M deployed to Puerto Rico. The regiment was broken up on 13 February 1901 and its elements reorganized and redesignated as separate numbered companies and batteries of the Artillery Corps. Initially, only the regimental headquarters and headquarters battery (HHB), HHBs for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, and Batteries A, B, D, & E active, HHB 3rd Battalion and Battery E being the caretaking battery for the Harbor Defenses of the Delaware (HD Delaware) at Fort DuPont, Delaware. All other elements remained inactive. Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), 7th Coast Artillery, reconstituted 28 June 1950 in the Regular Army; concurrently consolidated with HHB, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Group (see Annex 1), and consolidated unit designated as HHB, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Group. Activated 20 January 1952 at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Inactivated 15 January 1953 at Fort Stewart, Georgia. Activated 1 May 1954 in Korea. Inactivated 20 January 1955 in Korea. Activated l July 1955 in Greenland. Redesignated 20 March 1958 as HHB, 7th Artillery Group. Inactivated 20 December 1965 at Fort Totten, New York. 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery was activated on 13 September 1972 at Fort Bliss, Texas and was inactivated there on 16 June 1987. The battalion was reactivated on 16 December 1988 in Germany. On 21 December 1998, Headquarters United States Army Europe (USAREUR) announced plans to realign its air defense artillery units to comply with the Army's Patriot Standardization Plan. As a result of the plan, USAREUR realigned its 3 Patriot missile battalions with their 12 missile batteries, 2 maintenance companies and one maintenance team into 2 battalions with 5 batteries and one maintenance company each. The 1-7th Air Defense Artillery, with its Headquarters and Headquarters Battery and B and C Batteries subsequently moved from Rhine Ordnance Barracks, Kaiserslautern, Germany, to Fort Bliss, Texas. There it joined the 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. A Battery, 1st Battalion, 7th ADA was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 7th ADA in Hanau, Germany and moved from the Rhine Ordnance Barracks near Kaiserslautern to Babenhausen, Germany. F Battery, 6th Battalion, 52nd ADA, located at Ansbach, was also assigned to the 5–7th ADA and moved to Babenhausen. These units were re-flagged as D Battery and E Battery, 5th Bn, 7th ADA. Now the battalion was stationed in Kaiserslautern, Germany, subordinate to the 10th Army Air & Missile Defense Command with five batteries and a maintenance company. In June 2006, the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 108th Air Defense Artillery Brigade and 1-7th Air Defense Artillery moved to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. On 1 October 2015, the 5th Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery officially completed a unit move from Rhine Ordnance Barracks to Baumholder, Germany. The move started in March 2015 and relocated all six units within the battalion to Smith Barracks in Baumholder. Annex 1 (7th AAA Group) Constituted 5 August 1942 in the Army of the United States as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Group (or 7th Coast Artillery Group (AA)). Activated 1 September 1942 at Camp Haan, California. Redesignated 26 May 1943 as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Group. Departed Boston Port of Embarkation 1 July 1944; arrived in England 8 July 1944. Moved to France and the European Theater of Operations 28 September 1944. Departed Boston port of embarkation 7 April 1944; arrived in England 10 April 1944. Moved to France and the European Theater of Operations 14 July 1944. Located in Handorf, Germany in August 1945. Inactivated 31 December 1945 in Germany. Redesignated 13 October 1948 as the 26th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion and allotted to the Regular Army. Assigned 20 March 1949 to the 24th Infantry Division and activated in Japan. ==Current units==

• 1st Battalion 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (1-7th ADAR) • 5th Battalion 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (5-7th ADAR) ==Honors==

Campaign participation credit World War II: Normandy; Northern France; Rhineland; Ardennes-Alsace; Central Europe; England 1944 Korea: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter; and Korea, Summer 1953 Vietnam: Defense; Counteroffensive; Counteroffensive, Phase II; Counteroffensive, Phase III; Tet Counteroffensive; Counteroffensive, Phase IV; Counteroffensive, Phase V; Counteroffensive, Phase VI; Tet 69/Counteroffensive; Summer-Fall 1969; Winter-Spring 1970 Decorations • Presidential Unit Citation (Army), streamer embroidered Defense of Korea (24th Infantry Division, 1950). • Meritorious Unit Commendation, streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1966–1967 (1st Battalion, 7th Artillery, 1968). • Meritorious Unit Commendation, streamer embroidered VIETNAM 1967–1968 (1st Battalion, 7th Artillery, 1969). ==Coat of arms==

Blazon • Shield Gules, a pile voided Or crusilly fitchy of the like over all a Railway Gun in the act of firing Argent, flame Proper. Symbolism • Shield The shield is scarlet for Artillery. The cross crosslets fitchy, from the arms of the Lords of Commercy, refer to the baptism of fire of a battery of the regiment at Royanmoix, near Commercy, World War I. The pile is from the coat of arms of the 53rd Artillery C.A.C., elements of which were later amalgamated into the 7th Coast Artillery. The railway gun commemorates the unique distinctive of Battery "E", 42nd Artillery C.A.C. (later Headquarters Battery, 7th Coast Artillery) of firing the first shot in World War I by a Coast Artillery organization. • Crest The panther is taken from the coat of arms of the Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook, where the regiment was organized on 1 July 1924. Background The coat of arms was originally approved for the 7th Coast Artillery Regiment on 28 July 1924. It was redesignated for the 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 10 June 1952. The insignia was cancelled on 20 April 1960. It was restored and authorized effective 1 September 1971, for the 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. ==Distinctive unit insignia==

• Description A gold metal and enamel device in height consisting of a panther in a walking position facing forward, with fire issuing horizontally from its mouth and ears, all gold; all within and surmounting a continuous red scroll inscribed "NULLIUS PAVET" above and "OCCURSUM" below in gold letters. The insignia is worn in pairs. • Symbolism The panther is taken from the coat of arms of the Coast Defenses of Sandy Hook, where the regiment was organized on 1 July 1924. The motto translates to "He Fears No Encounter". • Background The distinctive unit insignia was originally approved for the 7th Coast Artillery Regiment on 31 July 1924. It was redesignated for the 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion on 10 June 1952. The insignia was cancelled on 20 April 1960. It was restored and authorized effective 1 September 1971, for the 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. ==See also==