306th Cavalry Regiment (United States)

306th Armored Cavalry Regiment
Coat of Arms of the 306th Cavalry Regiment
Active	February–August 1918 1921–1942 1949–1959
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Cavalry
Part of	62nd Cavalry Division (1921–1942)
Garrison/HQ	Washington, D.C. (1949–1959)
Motto(s)	Forward
Anniversaries	6 February
Commanders
Notable commanders	John Boynton Philip Clayton Hill
Insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia

The 306th Armored Cavalry Regiment (306th ACR) was a District of Columbia-based reconnaissance unit of the United States Army Organized Reserve Corps that briefly existed after World War II. The 306th ACR later became a group before being inactivated in 1959.

It traced its history back to the 306th Cavalry Regiment, a reserve unit that existed during World War I and the interwar period. It was activated in early 1918 but broken up in the middle of the year to form new artillery units. The unit was recreated as a Maryland Organized Reserve unit during the interwar period, and was converted into a signal aircraft warning regiment after the United States entered World War II.

The 306th Cavalry was constituted on 18 May 1917 in the National Army, shortly after the United States entered World War I, and organized on 6 February 1918 at Fort Clark, Texas. The regiment was broken up on 20 August 1918 and its elements used to form the 49th and 50th Field Artillery Regiments and the 17th Trench Mortar Battery. All three artillery units were demobilized on 8 February 1919 at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

On 15 October 1921, the 49th and 50th Field Artillery and the 17th Trench Mortar Battery were reconstituted in the Organized Reserve as the 306th Cavalry Regiment, part of the 62nd Cavalry Division[1][1][1][1][1][1][1] in the Third Corps Area. It became part of the division's 153rd Cavalry Brigade. The regiment was initiated (activated) with headquarters at Baltimore, 1st Squadron at Baltimore, and 2nd Squadron at Washington, D.C. Its commander from 1921 to 1937,John Boynton Philip Clayton Hill, was a Maryland politician and congressman. On 1 July 1929, it became a three-squadron regiment, with the new 3rd Squadron being activated at Baltimore. A machine gun troop was simultaneously added to the regiment at D.C., both new units being composed of men from the 153rd Machine Gun Squadron. Troop F, 306th Cavalry eventually reached full strength in enlisted men, one of the few reserve units to do so during the interwar period.