History of Company A, 1-121st Infantry Regiment

By Maj. William Carraway

Historian, Georgia Army National Guard

Guidons representing the history of Company A, 1st Battalion 121st Infantry Regiment in the 48th Infantry Division and 48th Armor Division.
Georgia National Guard Archives.

Organized and federally recognized in the Georgia National Guard’s 48^th Infantry Division as the Cannon Company, 122^nd Infantry Regiment February 26, 1948 in Covington, Ga., the company was reorganized as the 122^nd’s heavy mortar company November 1, 1948[1]. 

FORT MCCLELLAN, Ala. August 20, 1955 - Having just dropped a round into their 4.2-inch mortar, these men of Covington's Heavy Mortar Company,
122nd Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard, await the blast that will send the projectile to its mark. Left to right are Pfc. Roger Bell,
Pfc. Albert Anglin and Pfc. Herman Shannon. Georgia National Guard Archives.

With the conversion of the 48^th ID to Armor in October 1955, the company was redesignated Company A, 161^st Tank Battalion.[2] A 1959 reorganization of the 48^th AD prompted the company to reorganize as Company B, 248^th Signal Battalion.[3] In 1963, the Georgia National Guard received all units of the 48^th AD. In the reorganization that followed, Company B was redesignated Company A, 248^th Signal Battalion.[4] With the inactivation of the 48^th AD, Company A was redesignated the 180^th Signal Company effective December 14, 1967.[5] The 180^th served for more than decade before it was redesignated Company A, 111^th Signal Battalion April 1, 1979.[6] The following year, the 111^th Signal Battalion was reorganized as the 1^st Battalion 122^nd TOW Light Anti-Tank with the Covington unit serving as Company B.[7] 

FORT STEWART, Ga., July 1984 - Private Jimmy Nowell of Athens, a member of the Georgia Army National Guard's Company B, 1st Battalion, 122nd Infantry
at Covington, camouflages his TOW light anti-tank weapon while undergoing two weeks of annual training at Fort Stewart, Ga. Photo by the 124th MPAD.

In September 1992, the TLAT was inactivated and the Covington armory became home to Detachment 1, Company A and Detachment 1, Company B, 2^nd Battalion 121^st Infantry.[8] The detachments were consolidated September 1, 1993 to form Company A, 121^st Infantry Regiment.[9] In 2004, Company A was consolidated in Lawrenceville with Company D, 1-121 and the consolidated unit was designated Company A.[10]

Soldiers of Company A, 1st Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment during a unit assembly in February 2023.  Photo courtesy of Company A, 1-121.

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[1] NGB AROTO 325.4-Ga. May 5, 1949.

[2] NG AROTO 325.4 (27 Jan 56)-Ga. March 6, 1956 effective March 26, 1956.

[3] RA 73-59 June 10, 1959, effective July 1, 1959.

[4] RA 57-63 March 21, 1963 Effective April 16, 1963.

[5] RA 71-67 December 14, 1967 Effective January 1, 1968.

[6] RA 64-79 March 20, 1979 Effective April 1, 1979.

[7] OA 182-80 September 26, 1980 effective October 1, 1980.

[8] OA 261-92 October 21, 1992 effective September 1, 1992.

[9] RA 169-93 August 9, 1993, effective September 1, 1993.

[10] OA 180-04 September 24, 2004 effective September 1, 2002.