1st Bn - 72nd Armor Regt

The 1st Battalion, 72nd Armor Regiment was born of Armor in 1943 as A Company, 5th Armored Regiment and was activated for battle in July 1943 at Camp Chaffee, Arkansas. It later became the 717th Tank Battalion and was assigned to the 16th Armor Division, where it fought in the decisive Rhineland and Central European Campaigns, mostly notable in the support of the 79th Infantry Division. Reorganized twice in 1948, the Battalion was then known as Company A, 717th Heavy Tank Battalion and was stationed in the vast Mohave Desert in a small post known as Camp Irwin, California."