Constituted and activated at Fort Moultrie 9 March 1918 as the 61st Artillery (CAC) from existing Regular and National Guard companies.

A Gold color metal and enamel device 7⁄8 inch (2.2 cm) in height overall blazoned as follows: Per fess dancette Argent and Sable, a thunderbolt bendwise Proper penetrating the chariot wheel of Helios winged with two dexter wings inverted forming a saltire with the first charged all counterchanged and upon the wheel the Sun in splendor of the third.

The aim and purpose of the unit are told in pictorial form by the story from Greek mythology of the winged chariot of Helios which was brought to Earth by a bolt of lightning thrown by Zeus.

A summary of the story is as follows: Helios, the Sun, drove across the heavens from east to west daily, in a winged chariot drawn by the celestial horses.

Phaeton had scarcely taken the reins when the celestial horses, despising their weak driver, turned out of their patch and set everything on fire.

The aim and purpose of the unit are told in pictorial form by the story from Greek mythology of the winged chariot of Helios which was brought to earth by a bolt of lightning thrown by Zeus.

A summary of the story is as follows: Helios, the sun, drove across the heavens from east to west daily, in a winged chariot drawn by the celestial horses.

Phaeton had scarcely taken the reins when the celestial horses, despising their weak driver, turned out of their patch and set everything on fire.