The 265th Air Defense Artillery Regiment is an

air defense artillery The Air Defense Artillery Branch is the branch of the United States Army that specializes in anti-aircraft weapons (such as surface to air missiles). In the U.S. Army, these groups are composed of mainly air defense systems such as the Patrio ...

regiment in the Florida Army National Guard. The unit was formed 19 October 1923 in the Florida National Guard as the 1st Separate Battalion,

Coast Artillery Corps The U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps (CAC) was an administrative corps responsible for coastal, harbor, and anti-aircraft defense of the United States and its possessions between 1901 and 1950. The CAC also operated heavy and railway artillery ...

. It was reorganized and redesignated as the 265th Coast Artillery Regiment (CA) (Harbor Defense) (HD) in 1929. The 265th was activated for

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and served in the harbor defenses of Galveston, Texas, Los Angeles, California, Key West, Florida, Sandy Hook, New Jersey, and Alaska until broken up into battalions in July 1944. The unit lineage was carried by two antiaircraft battalions organized in 1946, one of which was federalized in Florida during the Korean War. Consolidated with other units in 1959 as the 265th Artillery; reorganized in 1987 as the 265th Air Defense Artillery.

Lineage

Interwar period

The 265th Coast Artillery Battalion was constituted in the National Guard in 1924 as a three-battery battalion, allotted to the state of Florida, and assigned to the Harbor Defenses of

Pensacola Pensacola () is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle, and the county seat and only incorporated city of Escambia County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 54,312. Pensacola is the principal ci ...

. The 1st Separate Battalion, Coast Artillery, was organized and federally recognized 14 November 1923 in the Florida National Guard with headquarters at

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

, and was redesignated on 4 April 1924 as the 1st Separate Battalion, Coast Artillery Corps. The Battalion was redesignated on 22 July 1925 as the 265th Coast Artillery Battalion. The battalion was expanded to four batteries in February 1928, and on 20 November 1929, was expanded and reorganized as a five-battery, two-battalion regiment, as the 265th Coast Artillery Regiment. In October 1939, a sixth firing battery and a searchlight battery were organized. The regiment's designated mobilization training station was

Fort Barrancas Fort Barrancas (1839) or Fort San Carlos de Barrancas (from 1787) is a United States military fort and National Historic Landmark in the former Warrington area of Pensacola, Florida, located physically within Naval Air Station Pensacola, which wa ...

, Florida. The regiment conducted annual summer training most years at Key West Barracks, Florida, but also sometimes at Fort Barrancas, or

Fort Monroe Fort Monroe, managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the National Park Service as the Fort Monroe National Monument, and the City of Hampton, is a former military installation in Hampton, Virgi ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

. In September 1926, September 1928, and September 1935, various elements of the regiment were called up to perform hurricane relief duty in South Florida. From July 1929 to June 1930, the regiment assisted with the Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine. From February to May 1935, the 2nd Battalion of the regiment was used for riot control in connection with a Veterans Works Project site. In March 1936, Battery C was used for guard and security duties when President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Winter Park and

Port Everglades, Florida Port Everglades is a seaport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, located in Broward County. Port Everglades is one of South Florida's foremost economic engines, as it is the gateway for both international trade and cruise vacations. In 2019, Port Eve ...

World War II

The regiment was inducted into federal service on 6 January 1941 at home stations. It moved to

Fort Crockett Fort Crockett is a government reservation on Galveston Island overlooking the Gulf of Mexico originally built as a defense installation to protect the city and harbor of Galveston and to secure the entrance to Galveston Bay, thus protecting the c ...

, Texas, in the Harbor Defenses (HD) of Galveston, Texas 15 January 1941. It operated these defenses alongside the Regular Army's 20th Coast Artillery Regiment. In December 1941, the 2nd Battalion transferred to the HD of Los Angeles, California, where it was stationed until April 1942m when the regiment was ordered to

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

, Florida to man

Fort Taylor A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in the HD of Key West, arriving 18 through 23 April 1942. The regiment operated the HD of Key West and various outposts in the Florida Keys and southern Florida until 21 December 1942, when movement to Fort Jackson, South Carolina began, lasting until 23 January 1943. On 16 February 1943, the 265th CA departed Fort Jackson for

Fort Hancock, New Jersey Fort Hancock is a former United States Army fort at Sandy Hook in Middletown Township New Jersey. The coastal artillery base defended the Atlantic coast and the entrance to New York Harbor, with its first gun batteries operational in 1896. The ...

in the HD of Sandy Hook. There, the regiment helped to operate the HD of Sandy Hook and the HD of Southern New York until 19 June 1943, when it prepared for overseas deployment. On 11 January 1944, the 265th CA departed New York for

Fort Lawton Fort Lawton was a United States Army post located in the Magnolia neighborhood of Seattle, Washington overlooking Puget Sound. In 1973 a large majority of the property, 534 acres of Fort Lawton, was given to the city of Seattle and dedicated as ...

, Washington, and deployment to

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

, departing via the Seattle Port of Embarkation and arriving at

Fort Greely Fort Greely is a United States Army launch site for anti-ballistic missiles located about southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. It is also the home of the Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC), as Fort Greely is one of the coldest areas in Alaska, and can ...

in the HD of

Kodiak, Alaska Kodiak ( Alutiiq: , russian: Кадьяк), formerly Paul's Harbor, is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island in Kodiak Island Borough, Alaska. All commercial transportation between the island's communities and the outside ...

24 January 1944. The 1st Battalion was transferred to

Amchitka Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Ref ...

, while the 2nd Battalion went to Adak, both in the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a chain of 14 large v ...

. On 31 July 1944, the 265th Coast Artillery was inactivated and its elements redesignated. The Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB) was disbanded. The 1st Battalion was redesignated the 277th Coast Artillery Battalion (155-mm Gun) (Separate) at Amchitka; the 2nd Battalion became the 278th Coast Artillery Battalion (155-mm Gun) (Separate) at Adak; and the 3rd Battalion, the 279th Coast Artillery Battalion (155-mm Gun) (Separate), at

Shemya Shemya or Simiya ( ale, Samiyax̂) is a small island in the Semichi Islands group of the Near Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of , and is about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It i ...

. The three battalions remained in the Aleutians through the end of the war, and were moved back to the United States via Seattle and inactivated in November 1945. Regiment reconstituted 25 August 1945 in the

Florida National Guard The Florida National Guard is the National Guard force of the state of Florida. It comprises the Florida Army National Guard and the Florida Air National Guard. The United States Constitution charges the National Guard with dual federal and st ...

. Headquarters and 1st Battalion, 265th Coast Artillery, reorganized and federally recognized 5 December 1946 as the 692nd Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion, an element of the 48th Infantry Division (later designated as the

48th Armored Division The 48th Armored Division was a division of the United States Army National Guard from September 1946 until 1968. Most of its units were part of the Florida Army National Guard The Florida Army National Guard is Florida's component of the Un ...

), with headquarters at Jacksonville. Redesignated 1 February 1949 as the 148th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. 2nd Battalion reorganized and federally recognized 17 December 1946 as the 712th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion with headquarters at Miami. Ordered into active federal service 1 May 1951 during the Korean War at home stations; released 30 April 1953 from active federal service and reverted to state control. Location of headquarters changed 22 June 1953 to Sarasota. Redesignated 1 October 1953 as the 712th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. (Headquarters Battery reorganized and federally recognized 15 September 1946 at Jacksonville as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery (HHB), 227th Antiaircraft Artillery Group; hereafter, separate lineage.) 148th and 712th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalions consolidated 15 April 1959 and consolidated unit reorganized and redesignated as the 265th Artillery, a parent regiment under the

Combat Arms Regimental System The Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS), was the method of assigning unit designations to units of some of the combat arms branches of the United States Army, including Infantry, Special Forces, Field Artillery, and Armor, from 1957 to 19 ...

, to consist of the 1st Automatic Weapons Battalion and the 2nd Howitzer Battalion. Reorganized 15 February 1963 to consist of the 1st and 2nd Automatic Weapons Battalions and the 16th and 17th Detachments. Reorganized 20 January 1968 to consist of the 1st Battalion. The 1st Battalion (Automatic Weapons) (Self-Propelled) was reorganized 1 October 1987 into the 1st and 3rd Battalions (Chaparral) with the HHB and Battery C forming HHB and Battery A of the 3rd Battalion. Withdrawn from the Combat Arms Regimental System 1 October 1987 and reorganized under the

United States Army Regimental System The United States Army Regimental System (USARS) is an organizational and classification system used by the United States Army. It was established in 1981 to replace the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to provide each soldier with continu ...

with headquarters at Palatka, Florida.265th Air Defense Artillery, Florida Army National Guard at Sill-www.army.mil

Campaign streamers

World War II * Asiatic–Pacific theater without inscription

Coat of arms

Motto

Home and Country

Symbolism

The colors scarlet and yellow are used for artillery. The unit’s service in Alaska during World War II is denoted by the bezent, symbol for gold, and the four-pointed polar star. The diagonal stripe with the nebuly edges, heraldic symbol for clouds, bearing a lightning flash, signifies the Air Defense Artillery mission. The barry wavy rounded alludes to water and refers to the regiment’s former Coast Artillery service. Additionally, it indicates the organization’s location in Florida and refers to the legendary "Fountain of Youth" sought by Ponce de Leon, the discoverer of Florida. The alligator crest also represents the state of Florida.

Distinctive Insignia

The

distinctive unit insignia A distinctive unit insignia (DUI) is a metallic heraldic badge or device worn by soldiers in the United States Army. The DUI design is derived from the coat of arms authorized for a unit. DUIs may also be called "distinctive insignia" (DI) or, imp ...

is the shield and motto of the coat of arms.

References

External links

Coast Defense Study Group website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:265 United States Army Coast Artillery Corps Military units and formations in Florida Military units and formations in Texas Military units and formations in Alaska Military units and formations established in 1923 Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 Military units and formations established in 1946