| Unit Name: | 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade |
| Country: | United States |
| Type: | Air defense artillery |
| Branch: | United States Army |
| Command Structure: | 32nd Army Air & Missile Defense Command |
| Size: | Brigade |
| Garrison: | Fort Cavazos, Texas |
| Motto: | "Team of Winners" |
| Identification Symbol Label: | Distinctive unit insignia |
The 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade is an air defense artillery brigade of the United States Army.
Subordinate units include:[1]
The 69th was created May 27, 1918, at Fort Worden and was placed into coastal artillery. In August of that same year the brigade was shipped to England. Most of the brigade including the commanding officer Lt. Colonel Edward W. Turner was taken overseas by the ship USS Jason, and since there wasn’t enough room on the Jason for all the officers, the rest were placed on the SS Demosthenes. By the end of August, the 69th were in England and quickly loaded onto steamers taking the brigade to Le Havre France to a training base. Once in France they were able to link up with the 36th Artillery Brigade which was their commanding brigade and they would join two other brigades the 68th, who were equipped with 6-inch American seacoast guns which were taken from the US fortifications back home, and the other battalion under 36th command was the 63rd Artillery who were equipped with 8-inch British Howitzer. The listing of the guns is important because when the US entered the war, they did so on short notice meaning their artillery brigades mainly used European coast guns making it very rare for artillery brigades to come over with any guns at all. This was the case for the 69th when they arrived they had no guns that were assigned to them. This soon changed as the 69th would receive 5-inch M1897 guns from the US 28 to be specific. They were the only artillery brigade in the entirety of the allied forces to have 5-inch guns. The issue with these guns is there was no ammo for them in Europe and guns are just big pieces of steel if there's nothing to fire out of them. The war ended shortly after they arrived though just 2 months after they got there the treaty was signed and the 69th never saw combat, but had the war continued the 69th and their 5-inch guns would have been a key player in invading Germany and ending the war through force. After the war ended the 69th arrived back home on the USS Mercury in February of 1919, and their 5-inch guns were never shot and shortly declared obsolete by the military. The guns were likely scrapped for the metal, destroying a part of unit history that is now only documented. For their service, the 69th did receive a participation streamer for their time in France. Though their time there was short they are still recognized for their small participation in the war. Shortly after returning home the 69th would be demobilized in May of 1919.[4]
During WWII the 69th would be reorganized, the first battalion of the 69th would be redesignated as the 69th Antiaircraft Battalion, 2nd battalion was assigned as 529th Anti Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion and the 3rd and final battalion was redesignated as the 249th Artillery Searchlight Battalion. This reorganization means that the 69th had no battalions listed under their command during WWII and therefore were designated as a Headquarters and Headquarters Battery.[5]
During the war the 69th was sent to the Pacific Theater but little can be found on exactly what their role was during the war. They would stay in the Pacific all the way until June of 1948 when the Brigade was again deactivated. For their service in WWII, they received a participation credit for serving in the Pacific. This seems to be a similar credit to the one the Brigade received during their service in WWI.
Post WWII the Brigade would be reactivated in July 1955 in Germany but would be deactivated pretty quickly in November of the same year not much is stated on this reactivation. Two years later the unit would then again be reactivated in Germany in 1960 this time for good. In 1972 the Brigade would get the name it still has to this day going from 69th Anticraft Artillery group to the 69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. Then in July 1983 the unit would be reorganized and redesignated to Giebel Stadt Army Airfield around Wuerzburg, Germany.
In 1989 the 69th with other elements of the 32nd Army Air and Missile Defense Command deployed about a thousand soldiers into southwest Asia this was in support of operation Desert Storm as well as Desert Shield. They were placed as a high and medium altitude defense for the VII Army Corps; they had 4 patriot firing batteries and 2 Hawks. These Patriots and Hawks were used to cover the VII during a flanking maneuver in Iraq. This led to the VII swiftly defeating the vaunted Republic Guard. At the end of the operation the task force was sent forward in the battlefield; they were sent to cover any aircraft or ballistic missiles that could be sent at the troops. However, when they were finished there the brigade was not given any participation credit for the operation. In 1998 the Brigade was deployed to Israel this was part of an operation called Shining Presence and involved both the US forces and Israeli forces. This deployment was different in that after the conclusion of the joint exercise the US forces remained to help protect the Israelis from air threats.
Since being in Fort Cavazos, 69th has deployed countless times with a Battalion almost always on deployment. Some of the more recent deployments have seen parts of the 69th deployed to Qatar. This constant state of deployment shows why Air Defense is one of the most deployed branches in the Army as they are vital in protecting not only our soldiers but are allies as well.
Each Brigade is made up of about 3 Battalions and that is the case for the 69th. The 3 battalions that make up the 69th are 4-5 Air Defense Artillery, 1-44 Air Defense Artillery and 1-62 Air Defense Artillery. 4-5 ADA was assigned to 69th in 2008 but was initially created back in 1861 fighting in the civil war and was credited with fighting in both world wars as well as a deployment to Korea during the Korean War.[6] 1-44 ADA was created in 1899 and joined the 69th in 2008. They served in both world wars. In WW2 they were designated as the 54th Coast Artillery Regiment and there are many hints and references that this was the only Black American Coast Artillery regiment in WWII. Recently in 2022 1-44 ADA destroyed missiles sent by the Houthi rebels. The last Battalion in 69th is 1-62 ADA which was created in 1798 and joined 69th in 2009. They served in the war of 1812 as well as both world wars, In WWII they would deploy into not only North Africa but also the Italian campaign and then later they would be deployed into Germany. Now every battalion is a part of a division which is made up of a couple brigades; the division that the 69th falls under is the 32nd Army and Air Missile Defense Command the 69th would join the 32nd around 1989.[7]
Each Brigade and even battalion will have a special unit insignia as well as shoulder sleeve insignia that is worn by the soldier's part of the Brigade. The 69th’s unit insignia is red and gold colored these are the colors for artillery for their service in WWI and WWII they have special crossbolt designs going in a x shape. The gold beam represents the unit's origins as a Coastal Artillery Brigade, the red cross is there to represent the direct descendant of the Brigade which was the 1st battalion redesignated during WWII. There is a blue area above the crossbow bolts that represent the ADA’s motto “First to Fire” as well as the mission of the branch. The shoulder insignia is much simpler having to comets with flight trails used to represent the numbers sixty-nine there are to black circles representing cannon balls, and the comets positioning is meant to mimic a defense posture.
69th Air Defense Artillery Brigade. U.S. Army Fort Hood.https://home.army.mil/hood/index.php/units-tenants/69th-air-defense-artillery-brigade/1st-battalion-62d-air-defense