The 170th MP Battalion: Heraldry and History

By Major William Carraway

Historian, Georgia National Guard

 

Left: The distinctive unit insignia of the 170th MP Battalion. Right: The 170th command team circa 1978. 

Unit Insignia of the 170^th MP Battalion.

On February 24, 1971, the US Army Institute of Heraldry approved the distinctive unit insignia of the 170^th Military Police Battalion. The colors green and yellow represent the Military Police. The gothic arch symbolizes the areas comprising the Ardennes-Alsace, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns and is used to represent the unit's participation there as the 179^th Field Artillery Regiment during World War II. Red and green refer to the French Croix de Guerre awarded the unit for action along the Moselle River represented by the wavy beam. The fleur-de-lis is symbolic of France and refers to both the Normandy and the Northern France campaigns. The black disc simulates a cannon ball and together with the colors scarlet and gold (yellow) alludes to artillery, the unit's former designation. A doorway implies protection and barrier, and with the scale of justice refers to the overall mission of the organization. The unit motto, first in peace and in war is inherited from the 122nd Infantry Regiment which was redesignated the 179^th Field Artillery Regiment in 1939.[1]

Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 122nd Infantry Regiment participate in a machine gun drill with an M1917A1 water-cooled machine gun in 1939.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

Formation and Early History[2]

The predecessor unit of the 170^th MP Battalion was organized and federally recognized March 5, 1924 in the Georgia National Guard in Atlanta as Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion and Company C, 200th Infantry. On June 9, 1924, the unit was redesignated as Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, and Company C, 122d Infantry Regiment. 

On July 1, 1939, the unit was converted and redesignated as Headquarters Battery and Combat Train, 1st Battalion, and Battery C, 179th Field Artillery. One year later the unit was reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1940 as Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 179th Field Artillery.

 

World War II[3]

The 179^th FA was inducted into federal service Feb. 24, 1941 in Atlanta. And on Feb. 8, 1943 was reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters Battery and Battery C, 179th Field Artillery Battalion.

After serving in the European Operations, the 179^th FA was inactivated Dec. 9, 1945 at Camp Patrick Henry, Va.

ATLANTA, April 21, 1955 Two- and-1/2-ton trucks of the 179th Field Artillery, 48th Armored Division loaded full of troops move out
from the Atlanta Armory during Operation Minuteman. Georgia National Guard Archives.

 

Post WWII Reorganizations

Upon the reorganization of the Georgia National Guard in July 1946, the 179^th FA Battalion was assigned to the 48th Infantry Division.[4] The 179^th was reorganized and federally recognized May 2, 1947 in Atlanta.[5] On Nov. 1, 1955, the 48^th was reorganized as the 48th Armored Division and the 179^th was redesignated as Headquarters Battery and Battery C, 179th Armored Field Artillery Battalion.[6]

 

FORT STEWART, Ga.  1959 - Two 8-inch self-propelled howitzers of the 1st Rocket/Howitzer Battalion, 179th Artillery from Atlanta, Ga. during
annual training of the 48th Armored Division at Fort Stewart, Ga.  Image courtesy of the National Guard Educational Foundation, Washington D.C.

Subsequent reorganizations in 1959[7] and 1963 established the unit as Headquarters Battery and Battery C, 1st Rocket Howitzer Battalion, 179th Artillery and Headquarters and Service Battery and Battery D, 1st Battalion, 179th Artillery, respectively. 

A reorganization of the 48^th Armor Division January 1, 1968 consolidated Headquarters and Service Battery and Battery D. The consolidated unit was redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 170th Military Police Battalion.[8].

The 170th MP Battalion was initially comprised of a headquarters detachment and the 178^th and 190^th MP Companies.. The 178^th was organized in Monroe where it is currently stationed. Originally organized in Atlanta, the 190^th relocated to Kennesaw in 1997 after a brief stationing at Dobbins Air Reserve Base.[9]

On Sept. 30, 1999, Headquarters Detachment, 170^th MP Battalion was consolidated with the 190^th MP Company. The 190^th MP Company carried forward the lineage and heritage of the 170^th.[10]

Soldiers of the 170th Military Police Battalion salute the colors during the battalion change of command ceremony March 11, 2018 in Decatur, Ga.
Georgia National Guard photo by Capt. Charlie Emmons

The 170th was reorganized in Decatur September 1, 2007[11] and on Sept. 1, 2019, the 190^th MP Company was consolidated with Headquarters Detachment. The lineage of the original 170^th MP Battalion was thus restored to the 170th.[12] As of this date, the 170th MP Battalion, 178th and 179th MP Companies are assigned to the Marietta-based 201st Regional Support Group.

Soldiers of the 170th Military Police Battalion, 201st Regional Support Group, Georgia Army National Guard stand in formation to receive instructions
Sept. 1, 2021, at the battalion headquarters in Decatur, Georgia prior to mobilizing to Louisiana following Hurricane Ida. Photo by Staff Sgt. Jeron Walker.

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[1] The Institute of Heraldry. “Distinctive Unit Insignia of the 170^th MP Battalion.” https://tioh.army.mil/Catalog/Heraldry.aspx?HeraldryId=7011&CategoryId=3937&grp=2&menu=Uniformed%20Services&from=search

[2] Center for Military History. “190^th MP Company Lineage and Honors Certificate.”

[3] Center for Military History. “190^th MP Company Lineage and Honors Certificate.”

[4] Center for Military History. “190^th MP Company Lineage and Honors Certificate.”

[5] Center for Military History. “190^th MP Company Lineage and Honors Certificate.”

[6] NG AROTO325.4 October 17, 1955.

[7] RA 73-59 10 June 1959.

[8] RA 71-67 December 14, 1967, effective January 1, 1968.

[9] OA 199-97 August 22, 1997, effective September 1, 1997.

[10] OA 252-90 October 11, 1990 effective September 30, 1990.

[11] OA 97-05 October 28, 2005, effective September 1, 2007.

[12] OA 337-19 November 18, 2019 effective September 1, 2019.

From Normandy to Afghanistan: A history of the 1230th Transportation Company

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

 

 

Soldiers of the 1230th Transportation Company conduct a departure ceremony in Thomasville, Ga. Oct. 5, 2020 prior to mobilizing to the Southwest border.
Photo by Desiree Bamba

The predecessor unit of the 1230^th TC was organized and federally recognized Oct. 1, 1939 in the Georgia National Guard in Bainbridge, Ga. as the Antitank Platoon, Headquarters Company, 121st Infantry, an element of the 30th Division.[1] The unit was inducted into federal service with the 30^th Division Sept. 16, 1940.

Staff Sgt. Joseph D. Smith Jr.

On Nov. 2, 1941, the 121^st Infantry was assigned to the 8^th Division which mobilized to the European Theater of Operations and landed at Utah Beach July 4, 1944. The 121^st participated in the Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland and Central Europe campaigns. Staff Sgt. Joseph D. Smith was killed July 17, 1944 during fighting in the vicinity of La Haye-du-Puits, Normandy, France. Smith had enlisted in the Anti-Tank Platoon in 1941. He was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.

Returning to the United States, the 121^st was inactivated Oct. 20 1945 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

The Bainbridge unit was reorganized and federally recognized Feb 9, 1948. On Nov. 1, 1948, the company was redesignated the Tank Company, 121st Infantry and assigned to the 48^th Infantry Division.[2]

With the inactivation of the 48^th ID Nov. 1, 1955 the company was reorganized and redesignated Company D, 121st Armored Infantry Battalion, an element of the 48th Armored Division.[3] A major reorganization of the Ga. ARNG on July 1, 1959 saw the unit redesignated Company D, 2d Armored Rifle Battalion, 121st Infantry, an element of the 48th Armored Division.[4]

As part of the Army-wide Reorganization of Army Divisions (ROAD) April 16, 1963, the unit was converted and redesignated Company A, 4th Battalion, 108th Armor.[5] The January 1, 1968 inactivation of the 48^th AD prompted the unit to reorganize as the 2d and 3d Engineer Platoons, Company D, 560th Engineer Battalion.[6] The unit continued to serve as elements of Company D, 560^th EN BN until April 1, 1996 when it was converted to form Detachment 1, 1148^th Transportation Company.[7] The unit received its current designation as 1230^th TC Sept. 1, 1999.[8] That year, the company supported Golden Cargo 99, transporting multiple launch rocket system pods from Illinois to Texas.[9]

 

The 1230^th was ordered into active federal service Jan. 30, 2003 and served state-side in support of Operation Noble Eagle. On April 4, 2007, the 1230^th was mobilized in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While deployed, the unit’s home station was changed to Thomasville.[10] The 1230^th returned home from Iraq in May 2008. For its actions in Afghanistan the 1230^th was awarded the Meritorious Unit Citation.[11]

 

On July 5, 2013, the 1230^th was ordered into active federal service in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. In their 11 months overseas, the Soldiers of the 1230^th drove more than 220,000 miles while the maintenance platoon supported more than 450 job orders to keep the vehicles rolling. The unit returned to a warm welcome home ceremony at the Thomasville High School football field May 31, 2014.[12]

 

First Lieutenant Monicia Porter, a native of Thomasville, Ga., with the 1230th Transportation Company in support of the 524th Combat Sustainment Support
Battalion, Task Force Lifeliner, 1st Sustainment Command (Theater), at Camp Marmal, Afghanistan, ground guides one of her platoon’s vehicles out of
their motor pool in preparation to conduct a sustainment and retrograde support mission to a remote location in Northern Afghanistan on Nov. 4, 2013.
Porter is a platoon leader and convoy commander for the Georgia Army National Guard and is a high school teacher at Central Gwinnett High School in Lawrenceville, Ga.
Photo by Staff Sgt. Peter Sinclair

From March to May 2015, Soldiers and trucks of the 1230^th participated in Operation Patriot Bandoleer, a U.S. Sustainment Command operation that moved munitions from the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point, N.C. to six destinations across the United States. [13]

 

Soldiers of the 1230^th supported the Southwest border mission from October 2020 to September 2021.

 

As a transportation company, the 1230^th is in high demand during emergency response operations. The 1230^th mobilized to Mississippi in 2005 following Hurricane Katrina[14] and has had an active role in Georgia’s coordinated response to COVID-19.

 

Georgia Army National Guardsman, Staff Sgt. Marquis McBride, a motor transportation sergeant with the  1230th Transportation Company, loads milk
for the Atlanta Public Schools food distribution at Douglass High School, Atlanta, April 20, 2020. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class R.J. Lannom Jr.

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[1] Center for Military History. Survey of the Georgia National Guard. (Fort McNair: N.P. Compiled October 1949).

[2] AGAO-I 325 (26 Oct 50) HIS-M, 23 January 1951.

 [3] NG-AROTO 325.4 (30 Sep 55) – Ga, 17 October 1955.

 [4] OA 73-59, 10 June 1959.

 [5] OA 57-63, 21 March 1963.

 [6] OA 71-67, 14 December 1967.

 [7] OA 57-96, 2 April 1996.

         [8] OA 78-98, 8 June 1999.

 [9] “Georgia Units Haul MLRS Pods During ‘Golden Cargo.’” The Georgia Guardsman. Summer 1999, 22.

[10] OA 112-08, 21 May 2008.

[11] Mike Thompson. “1230^th Transportation Company Deploying to Afghanistan.” The Georgia Guardsman. July 2013, 15.

[12] Will Cox. “Lifelong Friendships.” The Georgia Guardsman. May 2015, 11.

[13] Shannon Wright. “Operation Patriot Bandoleer.” The Georgia Guardsman. June 2014, 5.

[14] Mike Thompson. “1230^th Transportation Company Deploying to Afghanistan.” The Georgia Guardsman. July 2013, 15.

A History of Battery A, 214th Field Artillery Regiment

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

 

 An M109A6 Paladin Self-Propelled Howitzer assigned to the Georgia Army National Guard’s Battery A, 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery sends a 155 mm 
projectile down range during annual training at Fort Stewart, Ga. March 15, 2016. Photo by Capt. William Carraway

Battery A, 214^th Field Artillery Regiment was organized and federally recognized in Hartwell, Ga. as Battery C, 950^th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion (Automatic Weapons, Mobile).[1] It was the 110^th unit of the Georgia Army National Guard to be organized as part of the post-World War II reestablishment of the National Guard. The battery’s first 18 Soldiers were sworn in as charter members of the unit in the Hart County Courthouse which served as the temporary headquarters for the unit until the Hartwell Armory was completed in 1962.[2]

 

The original 18 members of the Batterh C, 950th AAA are sworn in at the Hart County Court House. Georgia National Guard Archives. 

On May 1, 1956, the 950^th AAA was reorganized and equipped with 75 mm guns whereupon Battery C was reorganized as Battery D.[3] As part of a major reorganization of the Georgia Army National Guard July 1, 1959, the unit was reorganized as Battery B, 4^th Gun Battalion (Skysweeper) 214^th Artillery.[4] In May 1962, the unit was redesignated Battery B, 1^st Howitzer Battalion, 214^th FAR and equipped with 105 mm howitzers.[5]

Sweeping the Fort Stewart skies from their emplaced position deep within the armor and antiaircraft training center, this battery of Guardsmen from Hartwell's
Battery B, 4th Gun Battalion point the muzzle of their 75 mm "Skysweeper" towards the approaching aircraft in a practice field exercise. The Guardsmen,
part of the 108th Artillery Brigade, trained at Fort Stewart from June 26 to July 10, 1960. Georgia National Guard Archives.

 A major reorganization of the Ga. ARNG April 16, 1963[6] created the 648^th Maintenance Battalion. The Hartwell unit was redesignated Company B of the newly created 648^th MB. This designation lasted less than five years as the inactivation of the 48^th Armor Division Jan. 1, 1968 prompted another state-wide reorganization. The Hartwell company was redesignated 2^nd and 3^rd Engineer Platoons of Company C, 105^th Engineer Battalion.[7] Redesignation as Detachment 1, Company C, 148^th Support Battalion followed Dec 1, 1973.[8] The unit received its current designation as Battery A 1-214^th FAR Dec.1, 1976.[9]  Through most of its existence, Battery A, 1-214^th has called Hartwell home; however, the unit was temporarily assigned to Winder from 2011 to 2014.[10]

 

On March 15, 2003, the 1-214^th FAR was activated for service in support of Operation Noble Eagle. Soldiers of Battery A also participated in the 1-214^th ONE mission in 2004 and supported a company-size element of 1-214^th Soldiers that mobilized to Iraq in 2006 in support of the 34^th Infantry Brigade.[11]

The 1-214^th FAR was assigned to the 648^th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade upon its activation in 2009; however, in 2010, the 1-214^th FAR was transferred back to the 78^th Troop Command.[12] The following year Battery A relocated to Winder, Ga. In 2013, the 1-214^th returned to the 648^th MEB.[13]

Battery A deployed with the 214^th FAR to Afghanistan in 2013 and returned to the United States the following year. In 2014, the Ga. ARNG completed a one-million-dollar renovation of the Hartwell Armory.

Soldiers of Battery A participated in Exercise African Lion 2021 in Morocco. Battery A has also supplied personnel to support the United States Customs and Border Patrol mission on the Southwest border.

An M109A6 Paladin howitzer assigned to the Hartwell-based Alpha Battery, 1-214th FAR moves to a loading dock May 10, 2021, in Jacksonville, Florida.
The self-propelled howitzer was one of over 200 Georgia Army National Guard vehicles that deployed to Morocco for participation in
exercise African Lion 21. Photo by Capt. Bryant Wine.

 

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[1] “Btry C, 950^th Bn, Activated in Hartwell. The Georgia Guardsman. Jan-Feb 1956, 4

[2] “Four New Armories Dedicated 27-28 Nov in Marietta, Calhoun, Lavonia and Hartwell.” The Georgia Guardsman. Sept-Dec 1962, 2.

[3] NG-AROTO 325.4 April 12, 1956.

[4] RA 73-59 June 10, 1959.

[5] RA 47-62 April 16, 1962

[6] RA 57-63 March 21, 1963

[7] RA 7-167 Dec. 14, 1967

[8] RA 153-73 Nov. 23, 1973

[9] RA 236-76 8 Nov. 1956

[10] Ga. ARNG PO 181-017 1 Sept. 2011 and NGB OA 436-14 Nov. 18, 2014.

[11] Georgia Department of Defense. The Georgia Department of Defense Annual Report, 2006.

[12] Georgia Department of Defense. The Georgia Department of Defense Annual Report, 2010, 15.

[13] Georgia Department of Defense. The Georgia Department of Defense Annual Report, 2013, 15.