25th inf Div

[39mto39g]

while digging around for info on 2/11 infantry I came across a 25th site that was interesting, I was also in the 25th and I am proud to wear the Tropic lightning patch. Hear is a cut and past from their site and a link to the whole thing
I woked with three different Armor groups and the 69th was one of them,Their history in one small paragraph below is interesting.
Ron

In 1957 the Army concluded that the infantry regiment was no longer a tactically viable organization in the era of nuclear warfare. Consequently the Army reorganized all infantry and airborne divisions under the Pentomic concept. Instead of three infantry regiments, there would be five infantry battle groups each commanded by a colonel. Each division would also have a cavalry reconnaissance squadron, an armor battalion and an aviation company. To preserve the lineages of the historic regiments the Army established the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS).

The 14th, 27th and 35th Infantry were reorganized and redesignated as the 1st Battle Group 14th Infantry, 2nd Battle Group, 19th Infantry, 2nd Battle Group, 21st Infantry, 1st Battle Group, 27th Infantry and 1st Battle Group, 35th Infantry. Thus with the exception of the 14th Infantry, the infantry component of the 25th mirrored the old Hawaiian Division.

The reconnaissance squadron was designated the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry. (The 4th Cavalry had previously served at Schofield Barracks from 1913-1919.) The 89th Tank Battalion was returned to its mother regiment when it was redesignated the 3rd Battalion, 69th Armor. (In 1963 it was redesignated 1/69 Armor.)

The Army had combined the air defense and field artillery into the Artillery branch. Thus by 1960 the 25th Division Artillery had the 1st Battalion, 8th Artillery, 2nd Battalion, 9th Artillery, 7th Battalion, 11th Artillery, and 3rd Battalion, 13th Artillery. With the exception of the 9th Artillery (which had been activated at Schofield Barracks in 1916), the 25th Division artillery component also mirrored the old Hawaiian Division.

In 1963, the Army decided that the battle group was not the answer and again reorganized the infantry and airborne divisions, replacing the battle groups with a quasi-regimental structure consisting of three brigades of three infantry battalions each. In August 1963 the 25th Division activated the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigades. For cost-savings purposes the Army only authorized the 25th to have seven infantry battalions. The 1st Brigade consisted of the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 14th Infantry. The 2nd Brigade was assigned the 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry and the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 27th Infantry. The 3rd Brigade had the 1st and 2nd Battalions, 35th Infantry.


VIETNAM
The 3rd Brigade was the first 25th Division element alerted for Vietnam service. The 1st Battalion, 14th Infantry was transferred to the 3rd Brigade as its third battalion and the 2nd Battalion, 9th Artillery was attached as the direct support artillery battalion as well as Troop C, 3/4th Cavalry as the brigade's reconnaissance element. On 28 December 1965 the 3rd Brigade began arriving at Pleiku in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. Called Operation Blue Light, it was the largest airlift of U.S. ground forces ever undertaken up to that time. The 1st Battalion, 69th Armor in May 1966, joined the 3rd Brigade. The brigade engaged North Vietnam regulars along the Cambodian border and then Viet Cong main-line forces in Quang Ngai province for which it received a Valorous Unit Award.

The rest of the 25th Division began arriving at Cu Chi northwest of Saigon in January 1966. Last to arrive was the 1st Brigade on 29 April 1966. Before leaving Hawaii the brigade received two battalions from Alaska, the 4th Battalions of the 9th and 23rd Infantry to bring it up to strength. During the period from the summer of 1966 to the spring of 1967 the 25th Division was the largest division in Vietnam with four brigades under its command, the division's 1st and 2nd Brigades as well as the 3rd Brigade, 4th Division and the 196th Light Infantry Brigade. From September through November 1966 these units participated in Operation Attleboro in War Zone C east of Tay Ninh City. It was up to that time, the largest major unit operation of the war and after intense fighting in November resulted in the defeat of the 9th Viet Cong Division. Lessons learned were successfully applied by the Tropic Lightning in Operations Cedar Falls and Junction City conducted in War Zone C in early 1967. For an additional description of Operation Attleboro see the introduction of the official U.S Army historical study of operations Cedar Falls-Junction City.

In April 1967 the 196th was transferred to Chu Lai in I Corps, thus reducing the division to three brigades. On 1 August 1967 the 3rd Brigade rejoined the 25th Division and assumed control of the former elements of the 3rd Brigade, 4th Division, the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry, 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 22nd Infantry and the 3rd Battalion, 22nd Infantry. The 2nd Battalion, 77th Artillery was assigned to the 25th Division Artillery. In exchange the 4th Division at Pleiku assumed control of the units formally with the 25th Division's 3rd Brigade except for Troop C, 3/4th Cavalry and several other company-level support elements which rejoined the division at Cu Chi less personnel and equipment.

From 1966 to 1970, the Division fought the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong north and west of Saigon. During the 1968 Tet Offensive the 25th stopped the Viet Cong attempts to seize Tan Son Nhut airfield and participated in the defense of Saigon. The Tropic Lightning consistently defeated the Communists forces where ever they found them in the Iron Triangle, Boi Loi Woods, HoBo Woods, Hoc Mon, Tay Ninh, War Zone C and Cambodia.

The Vietnamization of the war and the withdrawals of U.S. forces began in 1969. On 8 December 1970, the 25th Infantry Division departed Vietnam at color guard strength for Schofield Barracks less its 2nd Brigade which became a separate brigade under II Field Forces control. The 2nd Brigade operated in the Long Binh and Xuan Loc areas east of Saigon until its departure at color guard strength for Schofield Barracks on 30 April 1971. The 25th Infantry Division served gallantly for 1,716 days in Vietnam receiving participation credit for twelve Vietnam campaigns and being twice awarded the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm. Eight Tropic Lightning units were awarded Presidential Unit Citations and eleven received Valorous Unit Awards. 21 Tropic Lightning soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor.

During the Vietnam war a requirement existed to maintain a strategic reaction force for contingencies in the Pacific area other than Vietnam. Originally the 29th Infantry Brigade of the Hawaii National Guard had been federalized to serve in that capacity. On 6th December 1969 the 4th Brigade, 25th Infantry Division was activated for that mission and placed under the command of the U.S. Army Pacific. The brigade consisted of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry, 3rd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 3rd Battalion, 27th Infantry, 5th Battalion, 13th Artillery, Troop H, 10th Cavalry, 76th Engineer Company and the 425th Support Battalion. It was inactivated upon return of the 25th Division from Vietnam on 15 December 1970 with its personnel and equipment used to bring the 1st Brigade up to strength.


http://www.25thida.com/division.html