The 50th Coast Artillery Regiment was a

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 ...

regiment in the

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a standin ...

. It was mobilized in World War I and World War II.

World War I

The 50th Artillery (Coast Artillery Corps) (CAC) was organized in July 1918 at Camp Eustis, Virginia. Moved to Brest, France via Newport News port of embarkation October 1918 on the Italian liner SS ''America''. Moved from Brest to Montoir-de-Bretagne (

Loire-Inférieure Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...

) 30 October 1918 until the

Armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring parties to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, as it may constitute only a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace. It is derived from the ...

. The regiment was slated to be armed with 24 British-designed 9.2-inch howitzers, but did not commence training or see action, possibly not even receiving guns, until after the Armistice. They trained at Operations & Training Center No. 5 at

Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...

post-Armistice, with a firing range at

Montmorillon Montmorillon () is a commune in central-western France, in the Vienne department of which it is a sub-prefecture, in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Its inhabitants are called ''Montmorillonnaises'' ''and Montmorillonnais''. Montmorillon is a Book town an ...

, but on 26 November moved to Camp Pontanezen in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

. Returned to the US February 1919, demobilized March 1919 at

Camp Dix Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

, New Jersey.Rinaldi, p. 161

World War II

Constituted 24 January 1942 as an inactive regiment and activated as the 50th Coast Artillery Regiment (155 mm gun) at

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by O ...

, Virginia 1 February 1942, assigned to Provisional Coast Artillery Brigade.Stanton, pp. 458, 484 Regiments of this type began World War II with 24 155 mm M1918 guns on mobile mounts in six batteries of four guns each, and may later have received the 155 mm M1 gun.Stanton, p. 36 Battery A transferred to

Tongatapu Tongatapu is the main island of Tonga and the site of its capital, Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with 74,611 residents (2016), 70.5% of the nation ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

Islands in South Pacific 15 March 1942. On 17 July 1942 Battery A redesignated 825th CA (155 mm Gun) Battery (Separate) and Battery A transferred back to Camp Pendleton, less personnel and equipment, and reorganized later in 1942. Battery B deployed to Efete,

New Hebrides New Hebrides, officially the New Hebrides Condominium (french: link=no, Condominium des Nouvelles-Hébrides, "Condominium of the New Hebrides") and named after the Hebrides Scottish archipelago, was the colonial name for the island group ...

in the South Pacific, via the

San Francisco Port of Embarkation The San Francisco Port of Embarkation (SFPOE) was a United States Army command responsible for movement of supplies and troops to and from the Pacific during World War II with extensive facilities in the San Francisco area. SFPOE was established ...

, 2 March 1942 until January 1943, when it was redesignated 826th CA (155 mm Gun) Battery (Separate), and Battery B returned, less personnel and equipment, to Camp Pendleton. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were activated and trained in February and March 1942. Headquarters and headquarters battery (HHB) transferred 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 ...

in the Harbor Defenses of Galveston 9 April 1942 to 4 May 1942, when personnel and equipment transferred to HHB 20th CA (Harbor Defense (HD)) Regt and HHB 50th CA transferred (less personnel and equipment) to Camp Pendleton. Regimental HHB, 3rd Battalion HHB, and Battery E arrived Galveston, Texas 9 April 1942. Sections (2 guns each) of Battery E assigned to

Port Aransas Port Aransas ( ) is a city in Nueces County, Texas, United States. This city is 180 miles southeast of San Antonio. The population was 2,904 at the 2020 census. Port Aransas is the only established town on Mustang Island. It is located north of ...

and

Sabine Pass Sabine Pass is the natural outlet of Sabine Lake into the Gulf of Mexico. It borders Jefferson County, Texas, and Cameron Parish, Louisiana. History Civil War Two major battles occurred here during the American Civil War, known as the First and ...

, Texas. HHB 3rd Battalion posted at Fort Crockett 10 April 1942 to 21 October 1942. Battery F entrained for

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. Arriving 7 April 1942, Battery F moved by motor convoy to

Fort Morgan Fort Morgan can apply to any one of several places in the United States: *Fort Morgan (Alabama), a fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay *Fort Morgan, Alabama, a nearby community *Fort Morgan (Colorado), a frontier military post located in present-day Fo ...

, Alabama and established Temporary Harbor Defenses (THD) of Fort Morgan. 3rd Battalion HHB with Batteries E and F transferred to the Gulf Sector, Southern Defense Command. HHB 50th CA was reorganized at Camp Pendleton 4 May 1942 using personnel of HHB, 244th CA (155 mm Gun) Regiment. The 1st Battalion, 50th CA reorganized in 1942, and with 2nd Battalion remained assigned to Provisional CA Brigade at Camp Pendleton until December 1942. On 19 December 1942, the reorganized 50th CA (HHB and 1st & 2nd Battalions) was temporarily transferred to the Southern Sector,

Eastern Defense Command The Eastern Defense Command was first established as the Northeast Defense Command on 17 March 1941 as one of four U.S. Army continental defense commands to plan and prepare for and execute defense against enemy attack in the months before Ameri ...

, HHB and 1st Battalion at

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'' ...

, Florida, 2nd Battalion at

Fort Moultrie Fort Moultrie is a series of fortifications on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, built to protect the city of Charleston, South Carolina. The first fort, formerly named Fort Sullivan, built of palmetto logs, inspired the flag and n ...

, South Carolina. On 18 May 1943 the regiment was transferred to

Camp Hero Camp Hero State Park is a state park located on Montauk Point, New York, Montauk Point, New York (state), New York. The park occupies a portion of the former Montauk Air Force Station. History Military use The site known as Camp Hero, or th ...

, New York until 4 October 1943. HHB transferred to Fort McKinley, Maine, arriving 6 October 1943 until ordered to

Fort Devens Fort Devens is a United States Army Reserve military installation in the towns of Ayer and Shirley, in Middlesex County and Harvard in Worcester County in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. Due to extensive environmental contamination it was li ...

, Massachusetts 13 January 1944 and inactivated 21 January 1944. The 1st and 2nd Battalions at Camp Hero were also inactivated, and the 50th CA was disbanded 31 January 1944. The personnel of 1st Battalion were reorganized into the 42nd CA Battalion (155 mm Gun), activated 2 February 1944 at Camp Hero and transferred through Seattle to Alaska, eventually Camp Earle on Attu, prior to November 1945 return to

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 inactivation 28 November 1945. The 2nd Battalion shipped from San Francisco 4 December 1943, arriving Milne Bay, Papua 2 January 1944. Assigned to Cape Cretin 5 March 1944 and redesignated 43rd CA Battalion (155 mm Gun) 5 April 1944. No longer required at Cape Cretin, 43rd CA Battalion transferred to

Pityilu Island Map Pityilu Island with air base 1944 Pityilu Island is part of Manus Province in northern Papua New Guinea and part of the Admiralty Islands. It is off the northern coast of Manus Island and is nearly 4.8 km long and varies in width from ...

in the

Admiralties The Admiralty Islands are an archipelago group of 18 islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, to the north of New Guinea in the South Pacific Ocean. These are also sometimes called the Manus Islands, after the largest island. These rainforest-cov ...

16 April 1944. The 43rd Battalion remained in the Admiralties through the end of the war, firing field artillery missions for the 1st Cavalry Division on

Los Negros Los Negros ('The Black Ones') was a criminal organization that was once the armed wing of the Sinaloa Cartel and after a switch of alliances, became the armed wing of the Sinaloa splinter gang, the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel. In 2010 it went indepe ...

. Arrived Los Angeles 30 December 1945; transferred to

Camp Anza Camp Anza was a United States Army installation, in what is now Riverside, California, during World War II. Construction began on July 3, 1942, and was completed on February 15, 1943. The camp was named after Juan Bautista de Anza, an early explor ...

, California and inactivated 31 December 1945. 3rd Battalion HHB and Battery E departed Texas for

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the Gulfport– Biloxi–Pascagoula Combined Statistical Area. The population was 2 ...

, establishing THD Pascagoula 22 October 1942. On 4 November 1943, 3rd Battalion HHB and Battery E departed Pascagoula for Fort Morgan, leaving a detachment of the battalion HHB to operate THD Pascagoula. At Fort Morgan, Battery E redesignated 721st CA Btry (155 mm Gun) (Separate) 18 December 1943. The 3rd Battalion and 721st Battery departed Fort Morgan in late 1943 for Fort Barrancas. Ordered to

Camp Shelby Camp Shelby is a military post whose North Gate is located at the southern boundary of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on United States Highway 49. It is the largest state-owned training site in the nation. During wartime, the camp's mission is to s ...

, MS, they arrived 25 January 1944. They were disbanded 28 January 1944 and personnel assigned to

Army Ground Forces The Army Ground Forces were one of the three autonomous components of the Army of the United States during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Service Forces. Throughout their existence, Army Ground Forces were the large ...

Campaign streamers

43rd Coast Artillery Battalion after redesignation from 2nd Battalion, 50th Coast Artillery: World War II * Bismarck Archipelago * New Guinea

References

Bibliography

*
Gaines, William C., Coast Artillery Organizational History, 1917-1950, ''Coast Defense Journal'', vol. 23, issue 2 (Regular Army regiments)
* *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:050 Coast artillery regiments of the United States Army Military units and formations established in 1918 Military units and formations disestablished in 1919 Military units and formations established in 1942 1942 establishments in the United States Military units and formations disestablished in 1944 1918 establishments in Virginia