Nescit Cedere: “He Knows No Surrender”

 By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Ga. Army National Guard

 

The unit crests of the 118th and 230th FA flank images of Battery A, Georgia Artillery in 1916 and Battery A 1-118th FA in 2014. Georgia National Guard Archives

The earliest elements of the Georgia Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 118th Field Artillery Regiment were organized April 18, 1751 in Savannah, Ga.[1] The regiment fought during the American Revolution and the War of 1812 and began its Civil War service at Fort Pulaski in 1861.

Fort Pulaski. Photo by Maj. William Carraway

Elements of the 118th served in multiple units during the Civil War including the 1st Georgia Volunteer Regiment, Wheaton’s Battery, the 13th and 18th Battalion Georgia Infantry. The venerable Chatham Artillery detached from the regiment in September 1861 and served as an independent battery, ultimately surrendering in North Carolina in April 1865.

Pvt. John  Hancock, 1st Ga.
Vol. Inf. 1898.
Georgia National Guard Archives

In 1872, the 118th Field Artillery was reorganized as the 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment. Elements of this unit entered federal service in May 1898 during the Spanish American War.

In July 1916, the 1st Georgia Infantry Regiment was dispatched to Camp Cotton in El Paso Texas following border tensions with Mexico. Returning in 1917, the unit began training for overseas service and on September 23, 1917, received its present designation as the 118th Field Artillery Regiment. The 118th served in France with the 31st Infantry Division and was demobilized in 1919. In 1941, the 118th Field Artillery was ordered into federal service as part of the 30th Infantry Division. The 118th Regiment would serve as the 118th and 230th Field Artillery Battalion with the 30th ID in the European theater where it would earn four Meritorious Unit Commendations and fight with distinction at Saint Lo, Malmedy and Mortain.

Since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the 1-118th FA has mobilized for overseas contingency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2020, Soldiers of the 1-118th participated in Operation Noble Partner in the country of Georgia and supported the state's response to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

Soldiers of the Savannah-based Battery C, 1-118th FAR and the Glennville-based Company A, 177th Brigade Engineer Battalion, stand in formation
during the opening ceremony for Noble Partner 2020 at the Vaziani Training Area, country of Georgia Sept. 7, 2020. photo by Spc. Isaiah Matthews.

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[1] Lineage and Honors of the 118th Field Artillery. Department of the Army