The mission of the 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment was to, on order, rapidly deploy worldwide in support of XVIII Corps, joint, combined, or US unilateral operations to conduct integrated air and missile defense operations, and provide defense of assigned critical assets from air breathing and tactical ballistic missile threats, to allow freedom of ground maneuver and domination of any adversary.The 1st Battalion, 7th Air Defense Artillery Regiment was first constituted on 8 March 1898 in the Regular Army as Battery A, 7th Regiment of Artillery and organized on 29 March 1898 at Fort Slocum, New York.
The Battery was reorganized and redesignated on 13 February 1901 as the 72nd Company, Coast Artillery, Artillery Corps. It was redesignated on 2 February 1907 as the 72nd Company, Coast Artillery Corps. The Company was reorganized and redesignated in July 1916 as the 1st Company, Fort Screven, Georgia) and on 31 August 1917 as the 1st Company, Coast Defenses of Savannah.The Company was reorganized and redesignated on 1 June 1922 as the 72nd Company, Coast Artillery Corps and on 1 July 1924 as Battery A, 7th Coast Artillery. It was inactivated on 7 April 1930 at Fort Hancock, New Jersey.
The Company was reactivated on 1 July 1939 at Fort Hancock, New Jersey. It was inactivated on 7 April 1944 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, before being disbanded entirely on 14 June 1944.
The Company was reconstituted on 28 June 1950 in the Regular Army and concurrently consolidated with the lineage and honors of Battery A, 126th Antiaircraft Artillery Gun Battalion. Battery A, 126th Antiaircraft Gun Battalion had been first constituted on 25 February 1943 in the Army of the United States as Battery A, 126th Coast Artillery Battalion and activated on 10 May 1943 at Camp Haan, California. It was reorganized and redesignated on 28 June 1943 as Battery A, 126th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion and inactivated on 3 January 1946 at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia. The consolidated unit was redesignated as Battery A, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. The consolidated unit carried honors for participation in 6 campaigns during World War II: Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe, and England 1944.
The unit was redesignated on 13 December 1951 as Battery A, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion and activated on 20 December 1951 at Camp Edwards, Massachusetts. The unit deployed to Korea and participated in 8 campaigns of the Korean War: UN Defensive, UN Offensive, CCF Intervention, First UN Counteroffensive, CCF Spring Offensive, UN Summer-Fall Offensive, Second Korean Winter, and Korea, Summer 1953.
The unit was redesignated on 30 June 1955 as Battery A, 7th Antiaircraft Artillery Battalion. It was inactivated on 1 September 1958 in Germany. The unit was concurrently consolidated with Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Howitzer Battalion, 7th Artillery (active), which had been first organized in 1916. The consolidated unit designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Howitzer Battalion, 7th Artillery, an element of the 1st Infantry Division. The Battalion's organic elements were constituted on 8 February 1957 and activated on 15 February 1957.