Headquarters 602d Field Artillery Battalion(Pack)
APO #758
U.S Army

History of the 602d Field Artillery Battalion (Pack)

July 20, 1942 to November 31, 1944


By direction of the War Department and under orders of Headquarters Third Army, the 602d Field Artillery Battalion (Pack) was activated on July 20, 1942 at Camp Carson, Colorado, as a separate pack artillery battalion in General Headquarters Reserve.

Lieutenant Colonel Larry McHale was the first battalion commander.

School Troop Battalions, the Field Artillery School. and the Field Artillery Replacement Training Center at Fort Sill, Oklahoma supplied the enlisted cadre, as well as six officers. These six officers and the enlisted cadre received two months intensive training in pack artillery organization, operation and military functions at Fort Sill, Oklahoma before assuming their positions and duties at Camp Carson, Colorado.

The animals, animal equipment and fillers arrived at Camp Carson and the enlisted men of the new battalion were then conducted through their basic training. Towards the latter part of December 1942, after completing basic training, the entire battalion was ordered to the Mountain Training Center Artillery at Camp Hale, Colorado for additional and more advanced specialized training in the performance of pack artillery functions in mountainous terrain during the cold winter months. The trip was made by rail, arriving December 31, 1942.

Lieutenant Colonel Frederick C. Stritzinger, IV, a West Point graduate and former instructor at the Academy, assumed command of the 602nd Field Artillery Battalion (Pack) on February 1, 1943.

Because the altitude of Camp Hale, Colorado was aproximately 10,000 feet, the winter comparatively severe with a considerable amount of snow, this advanced pack artillery training was most thorough and complete, even to instruction in the proper use of skiis and snow shoes together with participation in the General Headquarters Test.

After four months at Camp Hale, Colorado the battalion was ordered to march back to Camp Carson, Colorado. It took about ten days to cover the 170 miles, the battalion arriving at Camp Carson on May 12, 1943. A new abbreviated T/O was announced and put into effect, half of the personnel, animals and equipment of this battalion being transferred to the 609th Field Artillery Battalion which was being organized. Further orders arrived directing the 602nd Field Artillery Battalion (Pack) to turn back all animals and animal equipment as the battalion was going on a secret and special mission.

The mystery of the new special mission cleared considerably when the battalion was ordered to report with bag, baggage, and howitzers to Fort Ord, California for amphibious training. During the six weeks from the middle of June to the end of July 1943, the battalion trained seriously and intensively in various and intricate phases of sea to shore operations, making practice landings at San Diego, Oceanside, and Monterey, California.

Having been previously alerted for overseas duty the Battalion Movement Orders were received and departed for San Francisco, California for an unknown destination. A few days later the 602nd Field Artillery Battalion landed on Adak Island in the Aleutian chain of islands and became part of Amphibious Task Force #9, or also know as the Kiska Task Force, which was scheduled to assault and invade Kiska Island on D-day, August 15, 1943. Landings were made on three different beaches with batteries of the 602d going ashore with the assult Infantry Battalions, as reinforced cannon companies, while the remainder of Headquarters personnel served as South Sector Artillery Headquarters. Kiska Island was taken without opposition. The 602d F.A.Bn. set up defensive positions and was garrisoned on the island for about three months until being ordered back to the United States on November 23, 1943.

Kiska Task Force patch

Original Kiska Task Force DI (Distinctive Insignia)

On the return trip the ship transporting the battalion stopped briefly at Adak Island and Dutch Harbor before proceeding to Seattle, Washington, where it arrived on December 1, 1943.

Note: Private First Class Robert F. Andrews, ASN. 17016615 drowned at sea when attempting to rescue a mental patient, over whom he was standing guard, after the patient made a break and dove overboard. Pfc. Andrews was awarded, posthumously, the Soldiers Medal for heroism aboard the U.S. Army Transport "SS George Flavel" at sea November 28, 1943.

The Battalion was moved immediately to Fort Lawton at Seattle, Washington where it remained for almost a week before leaving by rail for Hunter Ligget Reservation in California. Upon arriving at the Reservation all necessary preparations were made to declare a battalion furlough which became effective on December 15, 1943. Unfortunately neither the officers nor the enlisted personnel were to enjoy the furlough to the fullest possible extent, because it was abruptly cancelled, everyone being ordered to Camp Roberts, California by January 3, 1944.