The 32nd Cavalry Regiment is a cavalry formation of the United States Army. From 1941 to 2000, it was an armor formation.
History
The 32nd Armor Regiment was activated 15 April 1941 at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana as the 2nd Armored Regiment and assigned to the 3rd Armored Division. This title designation did not last long as the unit was quickly redesignated less than a month later on 8 May 1941 as the 32nd Armor Regiment. The 32nd Armor along with the 33rd Armor were the only two of the six armor regiments (the others belonging to the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions) to have ever been deployed in full regimental formation (during World War II.) All other armor units were deployed at the battalion level. The 32nd Armor Regiment then moved to Fort Polk, Louisiana on 14 June 1941. When the unit arrived Fort Polk was still not completed but nonetheless it was designated as the training base for the 3rd Armored Division. The Battalion received the bulk of its men who underwent basic training, began field training and learned to operate their tanks.
World War II
The 32nd was assigned to the 3rd Armored Division.The unit moved to Normandy in mid June 1944. On 29 June 1944, the regiment entered combat as part of the 3rd Armored Division's Combat Command A at Villiers-Fossard. The regiment fought on until 24 April 1945. During their time in action the unit assisted in the liberation of France and Belgium and breaking through the Siegfried Line. It experienced heavy combat in the Hurtgen Forest and The Battle of the Bulge. The regiment earned two Distinguished Unit Citations and twice received the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque for their service.
Cold War
Following the end of the Second World War, the 32nd Armor Regiment stood down along with the rest of the 3rd Armored Division on 10 November 1945. As Cold War tensions grew, the regiment was reactivated on 15 July 1947. Battalions of the regiment were stationed with United States Army Europe in West Germany and was tasked with deterring any Soviet advance through the Fulda Gap. The 1st Battalion was in Germany after the Korean War ended, and was joined by 3rd Battalion after being dispatched from Fort Stewart, Georgia in the early 1960s.
Locations varied with divisional attachments. Examples in the 1960s: 1st Battalion and 3rd Battalion with the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Armored Division, in Friedberg; 5th Battalion with the 24th Infantry Division in Munich.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Battalion was in Hawaii during the 1950s.
Southwest Asia
The 32nd Armor Regiment also played an important role in Southwest Asia as part of the 3rd Armored Division. Following the end of hostilities in the Persian Gulf, the 32nd Armor Regiment stood down along with the rest of the 3rd Armored Division at Fort Knox, KY, on 17 October 1992 with personnel and equipment being transferred to the 2d Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment. 1/32 Armor was part of the 1st Cavalry Division out of Fort Hood, TX during Desert Shield/Desert Storm.
Reactivation as cavalry
The 1st Battalion was reactivated 16 April 1995 at Fort Lewis, Washington using personnel and equipment from the 5th Battalion, 77th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Division, recently transferred from Mannheim, Germany in 1994. The battalion then became a subordinate unit of the 2nd Infantry Division.
The 1st Battalion (the last active unit of the 32d Armor Regiment) was inactivated on 15 September 2000 at Fort Lewis, Washington with personnel and equipment being transferred to the 1st Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment.
On 10 August 2005 the 1st Squadron, 32nd Cavalry Regiment was activated as part of the 1st Brigade Combat Team (Bastogne), 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. This new cavalry regiment inherited and continued the lineage and honors (including distinctive unit insignia) of the 32nd Armor Regiment.