Durable D

On the parade ground at Fort Devens, Mass., a proud red and white guidon, unique in the Army, changed hands to keep a tradition flying. Inscribed on the banner, over two crossed cannon, were the words: "Battery D, 5th Field Artillery,' organized by Captain Alexander Hamilton at Watertown, New York, March 1st, 1776." The entire personnel of Battery D had just been shifted to the new 601st Tank Destroyer Battalion. To maintain at least the name of the oldest regular unit in the U.S. Army, the anti-tankers switched name and standards with the 5th Artillery's Battery C.

Battery D has fought in every U.S. war. In the Revolution, it saw action at Trenton, Princeton, Germantown, Yorktown, fired its first shots at English warships off Manhattan's Battery, its last from the same spot to celebrate the departure of the English from the harbor. In 1784, all other American troops were discharged from service, and Battery D, then popularly known as the 5th Field Artillery, made up the whole U.S. Army. They kept the military tradition alive at West Point and Fort Pitt, Pa.

Much to its disgust, the battery served as an infantry outfit in the battle at Contreras in the Mexican War--the only occasion when it had no big guns to work with. Battery D was the first unit rushed to Washington during the Civil War to look after the capital's defenses, saw action at Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg. In World War I, the battery spread its death-shade at the Marne, Cantigny, the Argonne, Saint-Mihiel, was among the last units to return from France. Many of its numerous battle streamers were won in World War I.

Although its honors are many, Battery D can never forget the one time it-had to spike its guns. On its shield is a broken arrow symbolizing a battle at Vincennes, when a horde of Miami Indians scalped all the battery's officers, two-thirds of its men, killed all its horses.

Unlike many another old Army unit, Battery D is viewed with admiration by the toughest Army men. Unlike a guards unit which has turned socialite, nobody ever refers to it as a "dancing squad."

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