The History of 227th for the year of 1965.
The following documents was retrieved from the National
Archives II in Washington D. C. on December 3, 1998.
It covers from July 1, 1965 through to December 31,1967.
History of the 227th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter)
PREPARED BY
Major Thomas I McMurray
AND
Major Larry E. Scoggins
APPROVED BY
JACK CRANFORD
LT. COLONEL, ARMOR
COMMANDING
HEADQUARTERS
1ST CAVALRY DIVISION (AIRMOBILE)
APO San Francisco, 96490
NINETEEN HUNDRED SIXTY FIVE
1965
FORWARD Early in 1963, in the sandy hills of Fort Benning, Georgia a new concept was formally introduced to the United States Army. This idea was conceived in the minds of mobility-minded military leaders many years ago. Its birth was celebrated in the rice paddies and jungles of the Republic of South Vietnam early in that conflict. The concept matured into adolescence with the advent of new and better machines and it became the duty of the new 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion to prove to the world that air mobility was ready to take its place among the tired and proven tactical concepts available to the Army. The 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was constituted in the Regular Army on 1 February 1963 and assigned to the 11th Air Assault Division. This was the first battalion of its kind in the world and as it built into a full strength unit in the next several months, it stood ready to meet the challenge of providing a third dimension to the United State Army's tactics. On 11 February 1963 the 31st Transportation Company (Light Helicopter) was redesignated and activated as Company B, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, and brought to the battalion its twenty-two CH-34 helicopters. On 15 February 1963 Company A, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was activated as the second of the battalion's units. Company A was designated the aerial weapons armed escort company; their UH-1b's and armament systems arriving in late April 1963. On 18 July 1963 Headquarters Company, Company C and Company D, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was activated and in August 1963, the battalion became operational. Company C received its first UH-1D's in August, the first issued to a TOE unit for field use. In December, Company A and Company D exchanged designations, making Company D the assault escort company. The Battalion then embarked on a long trail of sweat and tears that took two and half years of testing the airmobile concept. The concept was proven and the ground work laid for the forth-coming airmobile division. The 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion was reorganized and redesignated 1 July 1965 as the 227th Aviation Battalion (Assault Helicopter); concurrently relieved from assignment to the 11th Air Assault Division and assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). The battalion had provided the "Air Assault" to it's former division and now set out to put the "Airmobile" in the 1st Cavalry Division. The battalion had given up a great number of her personnel in the preceding few months as replacements to Vietnam and, as preparation for combat began, replacements in all grades and skills began to arrive from throughout the Army. The task of training these new personnel and providing a combat ready assault helicopter battalion within a few weeks seemed insurmountable. The old timers turned to with a real "Pouvoir" attitude and things began to develop. All the new personnel were soon indoctrinated and became mission oriented and began to hear an occasional "attaboy" from the commanding officer, Lt. Colonel Jack Cranford. There was no time for mistakes or the retracing of steps. Intense effort from everyone in the battalion and help from wherever it could be had, paid off. When the President of the United States announced that he was ordering "My Airmobile Division" to South Vietnam, the 227th was ready. Aviators were qualified in the UH-1D, everyone was POM/POR qualified and all the battalion's equipment had been brought up to the peak of maintenance readiness; all while the battalion was still accomplishing its training missions with the infantry battalions. The President's announcement, though no surprise, started a new burst of activity within the battalion. There were so many things to be done and so little time available that again, the requirements seemed impossible. To further complicate matters, filler personnel were still arriving at that late date and they had to be trained and prepared to move. When the dust cleared and shipment dates arrived, everything was packed in the proper place, families had been provided for, the helicopters had been prepared and taken to the port, inspection had been conducted, preparation had been made for further training en route, more inspections, and finally the "Pouvoir" Battalion was ready to go to war.
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