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The Birthday of the Regiment It all began on the hot, heated day of August 28th, 1941 ,a new United States Army Armor Regiment was formally constituted, The 34th Armor Regiment. War was brewing over the eastern horizon in Europe and upon much of the Chinese mainland was under duress as well. The United States Army official activated the 34th Armor Regiment on October 1st, 1941. Under the, then, U.S. Army Regimental System, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor was called Company B and it was assigned to as an element of 34th Armored Regiment under the overall command of the Fifth Armored Division, the Victory Division. The unit was made up of many different kinds of men, men from all walks of life. Some of the initial soldiers of the Battalion were the professional Armor officers and non-commissioned officers who would train the many enlisted men who were just then joining the United States Army. The men who would form the bulk of the Battalion came from the cities, small and large alike. Some were well educated, others were not. They were once the fishermen from Maine and woodsmen from Washington. Those that came from the southwest, came as sons of ranchers and railroad men. The heartland of the nation, was where many of the farmer's son were from. Some men came from the high mountain tops in West Virginia and some were from the red clay hills of Missouri and Arkansas. The 34th Armored Regiment gave them a slot and B Company (the eventual 2nd Battalion) became their new home. America was on war footing and all the Commanders of the Armored Forces in the U.S. Army knew it would soon need many more men in it's ranks, like those of 34th Armored Regiment. The men trained hard in the cold snows of winter in North-Eastern States and sweated terribly and miserable under the sun of summer in the Southern States. They trained in the swamp edges and trained in the shadows of mountains in the rugged hills. Those that taught, taught well. Those that were enduring the training, they learned. Prior to shipping out over the Atlantic ocean for war on the European continent, the 34th Armor Regiment was broken up to conform to the newer concepts of the Divisional Combat Command. All the individual companies of the 34th Armored Regiment were reformed into smaller maneuver units and re-designated the 34th Tank, the 10th Tank, the 772 Tank, and D Company, 85th Cavalry. When the reformation was completed and the manning tables were adjusted with men and equipment, the recently disbanded Regiment went to disembarkation points along the Eastern seaboard as new identities. Soon they boarded the cramped and pitching troop transport ships for a long, rough transit to Europe, and onto their destiny upon a foreign shore. After all their war preparations, they were ready, they deployed well, they fought hard, and they fought well! The fragmented units of the Regiment served in Combat Commands A, B, and R (the Command Reserve), as well as Divisional units throughout Europe. The 34th Tank were assigned to CCA, the 10th and the 85th were assigned to CCR, and 772nd were to operate as a Divisional (Separate) unit. They, each, would spearhead many different assaults and sometimes be the leading elements in many different actions. The elements of the former 34th Armor Regiment would eventually be recognized for major actions In Luxemborg, along the Roer River, and being one of the first U.S. Army armor units across the Rhine River into Germany. The disbanded units of the Regiment would not stay long after the wars end. They returned from Europe in 1945 after and were shortly thereafter inactivated, but not for long. America was changing and so was the U.S. Army. It was preparing for the next confrontation. Eventually the prior elements of the 34th Armored Regiment were re-activated in 1947. Many of the Regimental units underwent through many official designations, but in essence, the individual Battalions were was always part of the 34th Armor Regiment. One battalion still used the same Regimental crest, that of a warrior's upright arm and round shield, and was still empowered to use as it's motto "the Strong Arm of Victory". Throughout the late 1940s and into the 1950s, the old Regimental units went through their paces and they upgraded their equipment and tactics. In 1957, the wise men of the Army took several reasoned steps to insure that U.S. Army Regimental unit heritage and lineages were perpetuated and maintained . It instituted a series of events and organizational steps that returned the disbanded Regimental units back into being a Regiment, under the new Regimental system which would guide all of the Regiments into the future . But the Army did not stop at maintaining the status quo. It went beyond just returning things to the old names and unit crests, it looked forward and it planned on meeting the needs of the Nation. They moved units from place to place, on paper (re-flagging). The updated equipment. They built newer and better training facilities and camps. The Regiment began it's new missions, and the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor's colors would be raised again and it would transfer from one old home to another new one and sometimes it did not have to haul the older, equipment with it, but sometimes it did. In August of 1963, the 2nd Battalion of the 34th Armor Regiment was activated and re-designated to it's current naming convention - the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor. The unit was in a new home (Fort Irwin, California). It was preparing for a new phase of operations and a new mission. Starting with an initially undermanned staff, the Battalion slowly received it's needed new trainees from all over, just like it had done before and just like before, it began the long and arduous task of making leaders, tankers, and gunners of it's newly acquired men. They again, trained like their predecessors. It was sometimes very hot and sometimes brutally cold in the desert climate of California. They trained and then they trained some more, they continued to train over and over again, until the word came to stop. When told of the Battalion's upcoming mission to fight in Vietnam, the then Battalion Commander made a bold decision to fight with what he determined was a better tool, the M48 tank, and not the newer M models coming on line. They would fight with M48 and that decision was a good one. The M48 could take a lot more punishment than the newer tanks and that decision saved many tankers the lives latter on, on the field of battle. In 1966, the United States Army sent the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment from the United States of America to the shores of the Republic of South Vietnam to fight with the 4th Infantry Division. It would be one of only four official U.S. Army Armor Battalions to see service in Vietnam, everything else with treads on it was Cavalry. Once again men of the 34th Armor sailed on a cramped ship over the a different ocean's waters to war. The Battalion sailed on the USNS Barrett, the old "Grin & Bare It", appropriately named so, for taking 22 days to cross the Pacific. The trip did not start out well, as one engine quit not long after sailing, but repairs were made and the journey was continued. The convoy which it traveled with was stricken by typhoon seas and rough waves, as if almost foretelling of the rough times to come. After journeying across the Pacific ocean like a cork before the a hurricane's wind, The USNS Barrett finally anchored within the safety of the confines of a large river outside the port of Vung Tau, Republic of South Vietnam. The men of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor spent it's first (of many to come) sleepless night in Vietnam, watching the artillery flares and machine gun tracer bullets streak across the dark night's sky and waiting for the enemy to sudden appear. The Battalion's Vietnam mission was to fight wherever sent and to perform it's many varied missions to the best of it's capacities. The 2/34th Armor Battalion was assigned to the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. General Westmoreland welcomed to the wad. The Battalion operations began shortly after their tanks and equipment were unloaded. They would fight with the other U.S. Army Battalions of the 4th Infantry Division until August of 1967, when it was transferred to the 3rd Brigade, 25th Infantry Division. In fact, due to the broad dispersion of both the 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions, they traded 3rd brigades just to help in consolidating their commands! Often during it's Vietnam experience, the Battalion would be broken up into separate companies, platoons, and sometime by individual tanks and they were assigned to other Divisional units, or just on individual missions without Battalion Rear area support. Today, if one were to try to distinguish who the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor was Op-conned to, Attached to, Supportive of, Detached to, and Patrolling with would be and is a difficult struggle at best,. If properly researched and done thoroughly, the list of units the Battalion served would be almost the entire inventory of Who was Who in Vietnam. From the DMZ to far below Siagon, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment was a war. Why were the companies of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor routinely detached to serve with other Divisions for differing lengths of time, and sometimes for years. This was in part due to a gross misunderstanding of the role that Armor could perform in Vietnam. Since overall U.S. Army commands were led by Infantry trained officers and staff, their knowledge of Armor, Armor abilities, and Armor tactics was limited. Early on, it was generally accepted that Armor units could not function in Vietnam due to the varied geography, terrain, and weather that was prevalent in the country. Armor could not function in rice paddies, swamps, or triple canopied jungles. In fact, some Army Divisions elected not to bring their organic Armor units to Vietnam because they absolutely thought that they would be unusable. Needless to say, they thought wrongly and found themselves begging for Armor assets when they discovered their error. Alpha Company and Headquarters & Headquarters Companies, along with the Headquarters Mortar & Recon (Scout) Platoons stayed assigned mainly under the control of the Battalion Commander, under most of the unit's Vietnam service. Additionally, the Battalion had brought with it it's own Maintenance Section, a Bridge section (AVLBs) and a Surveillance (Radar) section. Bravo Company fought with the Battalion early on, but it would eventually be "loaned out" to other Divisions who needed armor support and had none, or had very little of their own. The currently posted regimental history pages states that Bravo Company left Battalion control in October of 1967, where they served extensive time with the 1st Infantry Division, generally under 1-4 Cav control until early 1970. With the beginning of troop reductions in Vietnam, Bravo Company would come back to the control of the Battalion within the 25th Infantry Division, just in time to join the rest of the Battalion ( minus Charlie Company) to participate in the Cambodian Incursion of May and June 1970. In regards to the Cambodian Incursion, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor effectively was the first America unit to cross it's phase line into Cambodia. This was done jointly with units of the 2nd Battalion, 47th Mechanized Infantry ( 9th Infantry Division ) under control of the 1st Cavalry Division. The 1st Cavalry Division owes Alpha Company ,2nd Battalion, 34th Armor for it's bragging rights to one it's "First" claims. Yes, their Division can claim that their operations were "first" into Cambodia, but it was led by the Dreadnaughts of the 25th Infantry and the Panthers of the 9th Infantry. Similar to Bravo Company, Charlie Company went north towards the DMZ some time after B Company departed, just after the end of Christmas 1967, as it is said. Here again, Charlie Company would serve with many other Divisions, Brigades, and countless of other units. In addition to being with many U.S. Army Mechanized Infantry and Cavalry units, they also fought for the U.S. Marines. Charlie Company was employed by so many U.S. Army units, that the Battalion Association is still trying to piece this company's varied history together. Charlie Company never returned to the control of the Battalion Headquarters after it's long detachment to the fighting up north. Charlie Company had it's own, separate stand down ceremonies in Camp Red Devil , with the Company Guidon and Colors returning to the 25th Infantry for conveyance back to the U.S. (Today, members of Charlie Company who fought in Vietnam have more allegiances to I Corp Military units than they do with any Divisions in II or III Corp. Overall in Vietnam, the Battalion fought in over 10 provinces and spearheaded the Cambodian Incursion in 1970, while being attached to the 1st Cavalry Division. The Battalion (minus Charlie Company) served in Vietnam until the late autumn months of 1970, officially ceasing operational duties in November 1970, due to the United States troop reduction programs, initiated by the President of the United States of America. When the colors for Charlie Company got back to the 25th Infantry Division in Cu Chi, to join with the rest of the unit's colors, the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor's tour of Vietnam was over. There is a new chapter to be written for and about the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor. This chapter will address the years between Vietnam, through Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, and the remaining times leading to today. But these chapters should be written by those men who lived and experienced those times. It would be unfair for us to chronicle their stories, when they know it better. Visit Steve Light's developing web site for 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor - Desert Storm web site at http://www.2-34ar.lightningforce.net to learn more about this facet of the Battalion. What of the 1st Battalion, 34th Armor Regiment? They are our brothers and we love them in a brotherly way, but until they return from fighting in Iraq and form their own Association of War Veterans, we will keep watch over them, we will honor them and their deeds, and we will also pay honor their War Dead. They are "Centurions" and we are "Dreadnaughts", but we are one and the same - warriors!
The following pages are for and about the members of the 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor of the United States Army. They may have been fragmented at times into smaller units, fought with many other units in many different places, but they were first and always Dreadnaughts.
The 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor Association proudly presents the following pages to it's membership and to the whole web world.
Dedication This web site is dedicated to all the Dreadnaughts of the 2nd Battalion, 34th hat served their country during and after Vietnam. Your dedication and service will never be truly appreciated or understood by those who never served with the unit. Those of us who were there with you are the only living individuals who can truly say, without reservation, that we KNOW what you experienced and what you endured. Regardless of what your M.O.S. was or what you actually did to support your brothers in arms, Thank You! You will always be our brothers and this web site is dedicated to ALL WHO SERVED!
Creation Date: May 30 2000. Last Modified: July 3, 2004 Copyright © Denny L. Cherry , 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004.
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