1-161 Infantry
Lineage & Honors
 

1-161st Infantry Crest

1st Battalion (west of the Cascades) constituted and organized 9 March, 1886 and 2nd Battalion (east of the Cascades) was constituted 7 April, 1887 in the Washington Territory, comprising existing independent companies of the military organized in 1880-1884;

    Capitol Guards (Olympia, 1883)
    Seattle Rifles (1883)
    Tacoma Guards(1884)
    Queen City Guard (Seattle, 1884)
    Grant Guards (Walla Walla, 1880)
    Klickitat County Guards (Goldendale, 1884)

    (Active militia Washington Territory re-designated Washington (Territory) National Guard 28 January 1888.)

    2nd Infantry Regiment reorganized and re-designated 23 July 1895 as 1st Infantry Battalion.

    1st Infantry Regiment reorganized and re-designated in 1897 as 2nd Infantry Battalion.

Elements of the 1st and 2nd Infantry Battalions consolidated in part, re-designated 1st Regiment, Washington Volunteer Infantry, and mustered into Federal service 6-13 May 1898 at Tacoma; mustered out 1 November 1898 at San Francisco, California.

Remaining companies of 1st and 2nd Infantry Battalions re-organized as Independent Battalion, Washington Volunteer Infantry, and mustered into Federal service 2-15 July 1898 at Tacoma, mustered out 28 October 1898 at Vancouver Barracks.

Elements re-organized and consolidated with 1st and 2nd Infantry Regiments, Washington National Guard, (organized in 1898), and re-designated 9 November 1899 as 1st Infantry Regiment.

(Companies C, K, and M withdrawn, converted, and re-designated 5th, 3rd and 2nd Companies Coast Artillery Reserve Corps; Company A disbanded, then re-organized in 1909 as 4th Company, Coast Artillery Reserve Corps)

Mustered into Federal service 28 June 1916 at Camp Elmer M. Brown, Washington, for Mexican Border; mustered out 8 October 1916 at American Lake.

Called into Federal service 25 March 1917; drafted into Federal service 5 August 1917.

Consolidated with elements of 3rd Infantry Regiment, District of Columbia National Guard, and re-designated 19 September 1917 as 161st Infantry, an element of the 41st Division.

Demobilized 1-8 March 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey and Camp Dodge, Iowa.

State of Washington elements re-organized 1 January 1921, in the Washington National Guard as 161st Infantry; assigned to 41st Division.

(1st Battalion and Supply Company withdrawn, converted, and re-designated 10 May 1921, as 146th Artillery Regiment)

Inducted into Federal service 16 September 1940, at Spokane.

Relieved from assignment to 41st Division 3 August 1942.

Assigned to 25th Infantry Division 3 August 1942.

Relieved from assignment to 25th I.D. and inactivated 1 November 1945 at Ragoya, Japan.

Assigned to 41st I.D. 17 June 1946.

Re-organized and Federally recognized 24 March 1947 with Headquarters at Spokane.

Re-organized 15 April 1959 as 161st Infantry, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, to consist of the 1st and 2nd Battle Groups, elements of the 41st I.D.

Re-organized 1 March 1963 to consist of the 1st and 2nd Battalions.

Re-organized 1 January 1968 of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Battalions, non-divisional units.

 

Campaign Participation Credit

Philippine Insurrection 1898
Manila
Luzon 1899
World War I (without inscription)1917
World War II 1941
Guadalcanal 1942
Luzon 1943
Northern Solomons 1943