OFFICERS

WWII & Unit Histories

1ST SQUADRON 102ND CAVALRY REGIMENT

First New Jersey

  On 1 September 2008, the 102nd Armor Regiment was consolidated with the 117th Cavalry Regiment and the new unit was designated as the 102nd Cavalry Regiment (First New Jersey), to consist of the 1st Squadron an element of the 44th Infantry Combat Team with its Headquarters at Westfield.  This simple statement reaches back into 130 years of military history and brings together the collective heritage of Cavalry and Armor in New Jersey Army National Guard.

   The Lineage and Honors Certificate issued by the Department of the Army is the unit's official history.  It is a birth certificate and family tree rolled into one document.  Like tracing a thoroughbred horse's bloodline, this Lineage and Heritage Certificate has units' locations, dates of service, campaigns and decorations.  When you visualize the words on this certificate, it covers the entire state.

      Born as the Essex Troop of Cavalry , this unbroken Cavalry and Armor heritage lineage has existed since 1890 in our states' military forces.  Units with that legacy are rich in tradition and history.  They have gone by a various names, numbers and descriptions: The 1st New Jersey Cavalry; the 102nd Cavalry Regiment; the 102nd Cavalry Group (102nd and 38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadrons); the 117th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron; the 102nd Armored Cavalry; the 250th Tank Battalion; the 2nd Tank Battalion of the 53rd Armor; the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th Battalions and the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron of the 50th Armor; the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th of the Battalions of the 102nd Armor; the 3rd Squadron of the 104th Cavalry; the 215th, 113th, 114th and the 644th Tank Battalion; the 50th Reconnaissance Battalion; and the 5th Squadron 117th Cavalry.

       Their heritage lives on today in the 1st Squadron of the 102nd (First New Jersey).  These units carried on the proud traditions of Cavalry and Armor across the length and Breath of New Jersey.  They were stationed in familiar locations like Newark, Westfield, West Orange, Vineland, Dover and Hackettstown., but also where today's Cavalry Troopers have never served; places like Phillipsburg, Orange, Red Bank and Dumont.

      Today the Headquarters of the 1st Squadron 102nd Cavalry along with its Headquarters and Company D of the 250th Brigade Support Battalion is now located in Westfield; Troop A in Dover; Troop B in West Orange, and Troop C in Hackettstown.

CAMPAIGN PARTICIPATION CREDIT

WORLD WAR 1

      Meuse-Argone ~ Alsace 1918

WORLD WAR II

      Rome-Arno ~ Normandy (with arrowhead) ~ Northern  France ~ Southern France (with arrowhead) ~ Rhineland ~ Ardennes Alsace ~ Central Europe

WAR ON TERRORISM

       Iraq: Iraqi Surge

Troop C, 1st Squadron (Hackettstown), additionally entitled to:

WAR ON TERRORISM

       Iraq: National Resolution

DECORATIONS

FRENCH CROIX DE GUERRE WITH PALM, WORLD WAR II

Streamer embroidered: BEACHES OF NORMANDY

FRENCH CROIX DE GUERRE WITH PALM, WORLD WAR II

Streamer embroidered: PROVENCE TO LORRAINE

Troop B (West Orange), 1st Squadron, additionally entitled to: ASIATIC-PACIFIC THEATRE, WORLD WAR II

Streamer without inscription

Troop A (Dover) 1st Squadron, additionally entitled to:

MERITORIOUS UNIT COMMENDATION (ARMY)

Streamer embroidered: IRAQ SEP 2008 - MAY 2009

---

Click the icon to open the document in

Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

 

"Right click" the icon and select

"Save Target As..." to download the document to your computer.

---

IN FRONT OF THE FRONT-LINE
WWII stories written by a Scout from the
38th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron Mechanized

 

 

---

CAVALRY ON THE SHOULDER

The 38th CRS and the Defense of Monschau

 

---

The Ardennes Offensive:

My experiences in the 38th Cavalry Squadron’s Defense of Monschau, during "The Battle of the Bulge" By Lt. Colonel Alfred H. M. Shehab (USA-Ret)

---

POW History of SGT Clayton Skoda, Troop B, 117th Cavalry Recon Squadron (Mecz)

---

The Honor Role

 

            

---

WWII History

of the

117^th Cavalry

---

WWII History

of the

102^nd Cavalry

---

 

WWII History

of the

38^th Cavalry

---

TASK FORCE BUTLER

---

Recon Squadrons WWII FM 2-30 -2

---

WWII American Mechanized Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron and Armored Reconnaissance Battalion Profiles