The 321st Field Artillery Regiment (321st FAR) is a field artillery regiment of the United States Army. A parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, the 321st FAR currently has one active battalion, the 3rd Battalion, 321st FAR, assigned to the 18th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg, NC. The battalion is equipped with M142 HIMARS. The regiment served with the 82nd Division during World War I and with the 101st Airborne Division during World War II. Elements of the regiment have served with the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions in Vietnam, and with the 82nd Airborne Division and 18th Field Artillery Brigade during the Global War on Terrorism.
Current Status of Regimental Elements
1st Battalion (Airborne), 321st Field Artillery Regiment: Inactive since 14 March 2014 2nd Battalion (Airborne), 321st Field Artillery Regiment: Inactive since 14 May 2014 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment: Active, assigned to 18th Field Artillery Brigade Battery D, 321st Field Artillery Regiment: Inactive since 1 July 1958 Battery E, 321st Field Artillery Regiment: Inactive since 1 July 1958
History
World War I
Initially formed at Camp Gordon, Georgia, the 321st was part of the 82nd Division's 157th Field Artillery Brigade. On 5 September 1917, a small cadre of Regular Army non-commissioned officers and privates joined officer cadres that had reported on 29 August 1917 after graduating from the three batteries of the 7th Provisional Training Regiment. Draftees from Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee arrived over the next few weeks, but many of these men were transferred in November and replaced by new draftees from Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa and Minnesota and all the states east of the Mississippi River. Initially, the 321st's six firing batteries shared a single battery of 3-inch guns for training with the other 12 batteries in the brigade. In addition to approximately 10 hours use of the actual guns, the regiment's gun squads conducted training with replicas "crudely made structures fashioned from the trunks of small trees, tin cans, spools, gas pipes and any available material." A second battery of guns arrived in December, and from December 1917 through May 1918, the regiment conducted firing practice at Blackjack Mountain near Marietta, Georgia. During the training period, the 321st was designated as a motorized unit, causing a personnel shuffle and additional training in engine maintenance (mostly done without actual equipment!).