193rd Tank Battalion (United States)

The 193rd Tank Battalion was a battalion of the United States Army during World War II. It was briefly reformed in the Colorado Army National Guard postwar.
The unit's history is primarily that of the 193rd Tank Battalion which served in the Pacific theater during World War II with the 27th Infantry Division, throughout, and during the Korean war. The battalion provided amphibious assault vehicles during the Gilberts assault/Operation Galvanic for the Battle of Makin, the assault on Butaritari, known to the U.S. troops at the time as Makin Island.

Lineage

Constituted 1 September 1940 in the National Guard as the 193rd Tank Battalion and partially organized by redesignation of divisional light tank companies from various states as follows;

30th Tank Company, Georgia National Guard, as Company A
31st Tank Company, Alabama National Guard, as Company B
36th Tank Company, Texas National Guard, as Company C
45th Tank Company, Colorado National Guard, as Company D

Organization completed and battalion inducted into Federal service on 20 January 1941 at Fort Benning, Georgia redesignated Battery A

Service Company, 157th Infantry redesignated Battery B
Company I, 157th Infantry redesignated Service Battery
Medical Detachment, 193rd Tank Battalion redesignated Medical Detachment.

Battalion broken up 1 February 1959 and elements converted, redesignated or consolidated as follows;

Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, Battery C, and Medical Detachment at Colorado Springs consolidated and redesignated as Company D, 140th Signal Battalion.
Battery A at Canon City redesignated as Service Battery, 2nd Howitzer Battalion, 157th Field Artillery
Service Battery at Burlington redesignated as the 928th Medical Company.

Campaign streamers

World War I
Streamer without inscription
World War II

Central Pacific
New Guinea
Leyte
Luzon
Southern Philippines
Sicily
Naples Foggia
Anzio
Rome-Arno
Southern France
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe

Decorations

Philippine Presidential Unit Citation, streamer embroidered 17 October 1944 to 4 July 1945

Coat of arms

Shield

Per fess indented azure and or, in chief a fleur-de-lis argent, in base a sheathed Roman sword, point to base and a snake coiled to strike vert

Crest

The crest is that of the Colorado Army National Guard

Background

The shield is blue and yellow in reference to early service of the 983rd Field Artillery Battalion as infantry and Cavalry. The fleur-de-lis indicates service in France during World War I while the Roman sword and snake refer to service during the war with Spain, and on the Mexican border respectively. The yellow base of the shield is representative of the plains of eastern Colorado and the indented division of the shield the mountainous portion of the state against the skyline.