[2] The Headquarters Battery of the current 119th Field Artillery Regiment can trace its history back to the First Battle of Bull Run in 1861, during the American Civil War.

General Charles Mangin, commander of the French Tenth Army, awarded the 119th Field Artillery Regiment with the Croix de Guerre with a silver star for their distinguished service in battle during the Aisne–Marne and Oise–Aisne campaigns.

[1][9] After the 11 September attacks, the 119th Field Artillery Regiment was thrust into the role of security as they assisted in searching trucks crossing the Canada–United States border in Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan.

[4] On 9 March 1916, Mexican revolutionary General Francisco "Pancho" Villa led a force of five hundred men and attacked the town of Columbus, New Mexico, killing several American soldiers and civilians.

[12] A week later, Brigadier General John J. Pershing, on orders from President Woodrow Wilson, assembled an expeditionary force of several thousand men to pursue Pancho Villa who had since retreated back into Mexico.

The talks that resulted from these meetings eased the tensions sufficiently and the expeditionary force prepared for withdrawal and re-crossed the international border back into the United States on 5 February 1917.

The United States War Department designated the National Guard troops of Michigan and Wisconsin to form the 32nd Infantry Division on 18 July 1917 with Camp MacArthur in Waco, Texas selected as the location for the training.

[22][20] From Camp Merritt, the troops marched for over an hour to Alpine Landing and then took a two-hour ferry boat ride to the port of Hoboken, New Jersey for embarkation to the European continent.

[29] Beginning on 22 July 1918, the soldiers of the 119th Field Artillery, with new horses and inexperienced drivers, were forced to march over 360 kilometers (224 miles)[30] for five days from the Alsace region to just west of the town of Chateau Thierry.

[34] On 31 July 1918, the 32nd Infantry Division stormed and captured Cierges and a ridge one kilometer (5/8-mile) east of the village of Sergy with the support of continuous fire from the 119th Field Artillery.

[39] In just a matter of two days the 32nd Infantry Division had advanced from Reddy Farm and captured the villages of Villome and Dravegny, arriving on the outskirts of Saint-Gilles with active fire from the 119th Field Artillery.

This allowed the 28th Infantry Division to send four companies across the Vesle River on 8 August 1918 to establish bridgeheads on the north bank and occupy the southern and eastern parts of Fismettes.

[45] During the early morning of 9 August 1918, the 28th Infantry Division advanced one battalion across the Vesle River and captured Fismette establishing outposts occupying the heights to the north of the village.

[52][24] The soldiers of the 119th Field Artillery Regiment marched 140 kilometers (87 miles) over four days and by 28 August 1918, had rejoined the 32nd Infantry Division in the front line west of the village of Juvigny.

[61][62] On 16 September 1918, the soldiers of the 119th Field Artillery began a seven-night march through the mud and rain from the town of Joinville to the vicinity of the village of Avocourt to join the 79th Infantry Division.

[64] The place in the front line where the 79th Infantry Division was set to make its attack was in the same area where a half million soldiers from the French and German Armies had perished in the Battle of Verdun in 1916.

[73] With assistance from the 119th Field Artillery, the 32nd Infantry Division was able to smash its way forward and break through the 8 miles deep Hindenburg Line which had resisted numerous Allied breakthrough attempts ever since the Battle of Arras in April 1917.

After the armistice went into effect, the 119th Field artillery was transferred to the 40th Infantry Division on 15 November 1918 and relocated to the village of Revigny where a regional replacement depot had been established.

[78] On 23 November 1918, the 119th Field Artillery was relieved from assignment to the 40th Infantry Division and fell under the direct control of the First Army where they were granted a two-day respite to enjoy the Christmas holiday.

[80] The 119th Field Artillery made a ten-day journey to the port city of Brest to rejoin the 32nd Infantry Division on 18 April 1919 in preparation for their return to the United States.

[24] The 119th Field Artillery's proud record of achievements during World War I led the Army to decide that their namesake could not be allowed to pass into history and must be carried on.

The regimental headquarters unit was organized and federally recognized on 10 February 1922 at Lansing, Michigan and Colonel Joseph H. Lewis was selected to be the next commander of the 119th Field Artillery.

These two inactivated units were consolidated, reorganized, and federally recognized on 6 December 1946 as the 943rd Field Artillery Battalion with headquarters at Jackson, Michigan, and assigned to the 46th Infantry Division.

[104] The day after the 11 September attacks, about 100 soldiers out of Lansing Michigan of the 1st Battalion, 119th Field Artillery were called up to provide security for the two international border crossings in Detroit; the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel.

[10] Elements of the 1st Battalion were also called upon to assist the United States Customs and Border Protection with security at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan.

[10] After arrival at Fort Dix, the soldiers of 1st Battalion underwent mission-specific training and in-processing for over a month in preparation for their final destination, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.

[10] The soldiers of 1st Battalion arrived at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in January 2004 and joined Joint Detention Operation Group in providing security at Camp Delta.

For their efforts, the soldiers of the 119th Field Artillery Regiment earned cold weather operation training certificates and they learned how to adapt and overcome unexpected situations.

The exercise brought together 5,000 service members from the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Special Operations Command from 20 different states and three coalition countries.

The "demi-lion rampant" on the bottom part of the shield was taken from the crest of Ponce de Leon to represent the first time the 119th Field Artillery Regiment was federalized and sent to the Mexican-American border near El Paso, Texas during the Mexican Expedition.