309th Cavalry Regiment (United States)

309th Cavalry Regiment
Coat of Arms of the 309th Cavalry Regiment
Active	February–August 1918 1922–1942
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Cavalry
Part of	63rd Cavalry Division (1921–1942)
Garrison/HQ	Atlanta (1934–1942)
Motto(s)	"Anima Fortuna Sequitur" (Fortune Follows Courage)
Insignia
Distinctive Unit Insignia

The 309th Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry unit of the United States Army 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 North Carolina Organized Reserve unit during the interwar period, and later moved to Georgia in the early 1930s. It was converted into a signal aircraft warning regiment after the United States entered World War II.

Shortly after the United States entered World War I, the regiment was constituted in the National Army on 18 May 1917, and organized on 18 February 1918 at Fort Sam Houston. However, it was broken up on 18 August and its men were used to create the 56th and 57th Field Artillery Regiments, and the 19th Trench Mortar Battery. All three artillery units were demobilized at Fort Sill in February 1919: the 56th Field Artillery on 7 February, the 57th Field Artillery on 10 February, and the 19th Trench Mortar Battery on 12 February.

On 15 October 1921, the 56th and 57th Field Artillery and the 19th Trench Mortar Battery were reconstituted in the Organized Reserve as the 309th Cavalry Regiment, part of the 63rd Cavalry Division in the Fourth Corps Area. The 309th was initiated (activated) on 29 April 1922 with regimental headquarters at Asheville, 1st Squadron at Charlotte, and 2nd Squadron at High Point. The regiment joined the division's 155th Cavalry Brigade. The regiment had only officers, non-commissioned officers, and rated specialists assigned, and in event of mobilization was to use draftees to fill out its enlisted ranks. In its early years it was made up of World War I veterans. It was reorganized on 1 July 1929 as a three-squadron regiment, and its headquarters was relocated to Atlanta on 1 March 1934. The entire regiment was simultaneously moved to northwest Georgia. For the 1938 Third Army maneuver, the regiment provided 23 officers to the 108th Cavalry Regiment and 12 officers to the 109th Cavalry Regiment.