Editor’s note: The following is authorized for use by the 152nd Field Artillery Association.
From the Official Department of the Army Lineage and Honors Certificate dated 14 January 1997.
Organized and Federally recognized 15 May 1922 in the Maine National Guard in northeastern Maine as the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery, with Headquarters in Houlton, an element of the 43d Division expanded and reorganized 3 April, 1929 as the 152nd Field Artillery with Headquarters at Bangor
Inducted into Federal service 24 February 1941 at home stations Re-designated (less 2d Battalion)
19 February 1942 as the 203rd Field Artillery (less 2d Battalion) and relieved from assignment to the 43d Division (2d Battalion concurrently reorganized and redesignated as the 152d Field Artillery Battalion – hereafter separate lineage.
203d Field Artillery (less Headquarters Battery and 2d Battalion) reorganized and re-designated 1 March 1943 as the 203rd Field Artillery Battalion (Headquarters Battery concurrently reorganized and re-designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 203rd Field Artillery Group – hereafter separate lineage
203d Field Artillery Battalion inactivated 26 October 1945 at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia
Re-designated 21 May 1946 as the 152d Field Artillery Battalion.
Reorganized and Federally recognized 6 January 1947 in northeastern Maine with Headquarters at Caribou.
Reorganized and re-designated 1 March 1959 as the 152d Artillery, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, to consist of the 1st Automatic Weapons Battalion.
Reorganized 1 June 1961 to consist of the 1st Howitzer Battalion
Reorganized 1 December 1964 to consist of the 1st Howitzer Battalion and Battery F.
Reorganized 31 December 1967 to consist of the 1st Battalion.
Re-designated 1 February 1972 as the 152d Field Artillery.
Withdrawn 1 June 1989 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System.
Campaign participation credit World War II
Normandy
Northern France
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe
From 1939 yearbook:
Battery B, 152nd Field Artillery, holder of many trophies, was recruited from the men of Caribou early in 1922 by Captain Samuel W. Collins and was Federally recognized on February 10, 1922. The original officers were Captain Samuel W. Collins, First Lieutenants Leo Paradis and Edmund Pelletier, and Second Lieutenant Cecil Billington.
The battery has been called out in state duty several times since its organization to
hunt for lost persons and to fight forest fires, each time rendering valuable and
efficient service.
Trophies and honors won by the organization are as follows: Battalion Basketball Trophy, 1924; Battalion Pistol Championship, at Caribou, 1936; first prize at Battalion, Pistol Match, Presque Isle, 1936; Battalion Pistol Match, Caribou, 1937; first prize at Battalion Pistol Match, Presque Isle, 1937; second place at Battalion Pistol Match, Caribou, 1938 and 1939; Regimental Pistol Championship at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont, 1938; First place, class B, State Pistol Match, Auburn, Maine, 1931, and Second place, class B, State Pistol Match, Auburn, Maine, 1932.
The Battery furnished two members of the State Artillery Pistol Team at state matches for three consecutive years, 1930-31-32.
The battery commanders since the date of Federal recognition have been as follows: Captain Samuel W. Collins, February 10, 1922 to July 1, 1926; Captain John O. McGuire, July 1, 1926, to May 12, 1931; First Lieutenant Herbert L. Ketch, May 13, 1931, to July 6, 1931, and Captain George M. Carter, July 6, 1931, to the present (1939).
Other officers with the battery have been First Lieutenants Leo J. Paradis, Edmund Pelletier, Fred E. Parady, and Second Lieutenants Cecil Billington, Kenneth O. McLaughlin, Vaughn W. Armstrong, Herbert M. Brown, Edmund D. White, and Jesse R. Russell.
World War II 1941-1945
In February, 1941, the 152nd Field Artillery Regiment was inducted into federal service at Bangor as part of the 43rd Division, for a one-year mobilization. Advance elements of the Division reached the 43rd’s base camp at Camp Blanding, Florida, on March 9, 1941, and the movement of the bulk of troops by rail and truck was completed by March 19.
At the end of July, the Division convoyed 850 miles westward to Louisiana, where during August and Sept. as part of the Third Army, it engaged in the greatest peace-time maneuvers this nation has ever staged. For two months, the soldiers underwent hardships and discomforts, were toughened and learned field discipline.
General Hester led the Division north to the Carolinas in late October where the 43rd, as part of the Fourth Army Corps, participated in the GHQ maneuvers of November. The Division was one of three divisions in the Army of the United States to take part in the two great maneuvers of 1941.
In February of 1942, the division and all it’s units were reformed in the “triangular” configuration. For the field artillery units this meant the regiments were broken up and battalions formed. The 1-152nd reformed as the 1-203rd Field Artillery (later as the 203rd FA) and was relieved from the division; the 2-152nd reformed as the 152nd Field Artillery Battalion and remained with the 43rd.
Post-World War II 1946-2007
Beginning in 1946, the National Guard began the process of reconstitution. In Maine, the old 152nd FA Regimental HQ and the Second Battalion were not reconstituted, leaving only the First Battalion. Federal recognition came in 1947 along with some changes to stationing: Headquarters moved from Houlton to Caribou, B Battery from Caribou to Houlton, C Battery from Ft. Fairfield to Ft. Kent, and the new Service Battery took over Fort Fairfield.
Lieutenant Colonel Herbert M. Brown was the first battalion commander of the newly reorganized battalion. LTC Brown had been the battalion’s Plans and Training Officer and a lieutenant when the battalion mobilized in 1941; by 1943 he commanded the 739th Field Artillery battalion and fought with the battalion across Europe to much acclaim.
In the 1950s, all the units of the battalion moved into newly built armories. The battalion briefly converted to Air Defense and fielded the Twin 40 “Duster” self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, and Service Battery got the chance to be a line battery for a couple of years.
In the 60s the battalion fielded self-propelled howitzers (B Battery fired a 21-gun salute in honor of President Kennedy on the day of his funeral.
In 1971 the battalion made history by going to Canada to conduct annual training, beginning a 35-year fruitful relationship with Canadian Forces Base Gagetown.
In the 1980s the battalion sent B Battery to Camp Ripley Minnesota for annual training, the entire battalion to Fort A.P. Hill in 1985, won the Eisenhower Trophy at least twice, and fielded the new M198 155mm Howitzers. The battalion also began holding an annual “officers’ party,” which transitioned intol the St. Barbara’s celebration.
Among the many tragedies surrounding the deactivation of the battalion is the end of the opportunity to recognize so many great artillerymen through the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara, and also great supporters of the battalion through the Molly Pitcher Award.
In the mid-1990s the battalion expanded out of Aroostook County for the first time since the early 70s, when there was a detachment of B Battery in Millinocket. Alpha Battery moved their flag to Waterville and the Presque Isle armory became a detachment of C Battery; also Calais became a detachment of B Battery.
Battalion soldiers work on Bangor Hydro’s Washington County powerline after the Ice Storm of January 1998.
The late-’90s saw three State mobilizations. Two were to assist in searches for lost hunters in the Ashland and Danforth areas. The other was in response to the ice storms of January 1998, known as Operation Ice Guard.
In 2000 the battalion traveled to Dugway Proving Grounds, Utah for annual training. The next year we fielded the new Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System (AFATDS), among the first battalions in the Army, active or Guard, to field the version that replaced the Battery Computer System (BCS) at the battery fire direction centers.
In 2004, as significant portions of the battalion began deploying in support of the Global War on Terror, the battalion deployed to Canadian Forces Base Val Cartier, outside of Quebec City, for Annual Training. In 2005 the battalion was back to Gagetown but without any guns, as we tailored training towards non-artillery tasks that our soldiers were performing overseas.
In 2006 we executed our last Annual Training at CFB Gagetown, and fired our guns for the last time.
Operation Friendly Skies was the Maine National Guard’s airport security mission implemented shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001. In Maine, approximately 80 soldiers and airmen were assigned to help secure the airports in Portland, Rockland, Augusta, Trenton, Bangor, and Presque Isle. The 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery mobilized 18 soldiers; ten at Presque Isle, three at Augusta, three at Trenton, and two at Bangor. The mission began with one day of FAA training on October 4, and the teams were on-site at the airports on October 5. The mission ended in May 2002.
Operation Secure Borders augmented the United States Customs and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) agencies at ports across the United States, beginning in March 2002. In Maine, 104 soldiers, including 73 from the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery, served at ports all along the Maine-Canada border. The mission ran through August for those in support of the INS, and through October for those working with Customs.
112th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) and 1136th Transportation Company.
The first call to mobilize soldiers for overseas deployment came in late-January 2003 with a tasking to provide soldiers to fill shortages in the 112th Medical Company (Air Ambulance), another Maine Army National Guard unit. Shortly thereafter another call came to provide soldiers to the 1136th Transportation Company. In March 2003, four soldiers from the 1-152 FA were transferred to the 112th and deployed to Kuwait and Iraq for a year, where the company’s Blackhawk Helicopters flew 3,600 combat/imminent danger hours involving the transport of 1,200 patients in Iraq and Kuwait. In April, eleven soldiers from 1-152 FA transferred to the 1136th and deployed to Kuwait for a year.
ANA Mission. In September 2003, eleven soldiers of the Maine Army National Guard mobilized as part of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry (Mountain)(Vermont ARNG) and deployed to Afghanistan to serve as mentors to an Afghan National Army (ANA) infantry battalion. Two soldiers from 1-152 Field Artillery, Major Bill Hurley and CW2 Cliff Caldwell volunteered for this mission and returned in August 2004.
152nd Field Artillery Association Honor Roll
Citizen Soldiers from the 1-152nd Field Artillery honorably served their country, state, and fellow citizens for 30 or more days in support of the operations below after September 11th, 2001.
OPERATION FRIENDLY SKIES
OPERATION SECURE BORDERS
OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM
OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM
