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The 53rd Transportation Battalion was first constituted May 28,
1943 as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 53rd
Quartermaster Truck Battalion, and it was activated in north Africa
June 22, 1943. It was reorganized May 22, 1944, and redesignated as
Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 53rd Quartermaster
(Mobile).
The battalion was inactivated Nov. 12, 1945, in Germany. Then
Aug. 1, 1946, the battalion was converted and redesignated as
Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 53rd Transportation Corps
Truck Battalion when it was activated at Fort Sill, Okla. On May 3,
1949, the battalion was alloted to the Regular Army, and it was
reorganized and redesignated as Headquarters and Headquarters
Company, 53rd Transportation Battalion at Kaiserslautern, Germany,
April 1, 1953. Then, June 19, 1959, it was once again redisgnated
as Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 53rd Transportation
Battalion and remained so until it was inactivated Sept. 15,
1995.
The 53rd Transportation Battalion was reactivated Oct. 29, 1999,
at Fort McPherson, Ga., as the active component augmentation to the
Third Theater Movement Control Agency.
Deployments to the Southwest Asian theater have increased in
recent years. The areas of reception, staging, onward movement and
integration have increased in size and scope, resulting in the need
for a movement control battalion. Consequently, the 53rd
Transportation Battalion (Movement Control) received new permanent
orders Oct. 29, 1999, reorganizing it into the only CONUS-based
active component movement control battalion headquarters (echelons
above corps).
The battalion served in seven campaigns in World War II,
including: Sicily (with Arrowhead), Naples-Foggia, Anzio (with
Arrowhead), Rome-Arno, southern France (with Arrowhead), Rhineland,
and central Europe.
The battalion is currently deployed in support of Operation
Enduring Freedom, conducting movement control operations throughout
Kuwait. To date, the battalion has onward moved more than 80,000
troops and 30,000 pieces of cargo and equipment into the
theater.
The battalion's awards and decorations include the Army Superior
Unit Award, awarded in 1986 and 1990.
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