2342

65TH AIR DEFENSE ARTILLERY, 6TH BATTALION FLAG.

Currency:USD Category:Firearms & Military Start Price:100.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
65TH AIR DEFENSE ARTILLERY, 6TH BATTALION FLAG.
3’ x 4’ double applique embroidered on red field with gold fringe, unit crest of panther commemorating service in canal zone prior to WW2 and motto “SURSUM” (Upwards). Contract label dated 1970. Unit has long history as training unit starting in WW1. The 65th Air Defense Artillery Regiment began as a training formation in the United States Army and served as a Coast Artillery formation. During World War I the unit was equipped with British 9.2 Inch howitzers that were drawn by tractors. The regiment formed in December 1917 in the Regular Army as the 1st Battalion, 65th Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps) and organized in early January 1918 at Fort Rosecrans in California. After their war service they were demobilized in February 1919 at Camp Lewis, Washington. They were reactivated as the 1st Battalion, 65th Coast Artillery in July 1924 at Fort Amador in the Panama Canal Zone. They had reformed as anti-aircraft unit equipped with the M1918 3 Inch gun. They were inactivated in April 1932. In June 1938, at Fort Winfield Scott, California they were reactivated and at Fort Ord they were reorganized as the 65th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion in May 1943. They departed San Francisco in July 1943 for overseas service and arrived in Alaska 22 July 1943 where they served in the Aleutian Islands. In December 1944 they returned from overseas service and arrived at the Seattle. In January 1945 they were inactivated (less Batteries B, C, and D,) at Camp Hood, Texas. At the same time, Batteries B, C, and D, were redesignated as the 427th, 428th, and 429th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Batteries, respectively. The 65th was reactivated, with new Batteries B, C, and D, in May 1949 on Okinawa. They were redesignated in February 1955 as the 65th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. They were moved to Japan in September 1959 for deactivation. Prior to that they were consolidated in July 1959 with the 65th Artillery. The regiment’s insignia was redesignated effective 1 September 1971, for the 65th Air Defense Artillery Regiment. CONDITION: fine. (02-19473-20/JS). $200-300.