330th ASA/RR Co

(The Skate patch came into existence in Dec. 68
and was still being worn in Sept. 69 The lightning patch was worn later on when the 330th was reassigned to the 313th RR Bn. The 330th remained in Pleiku .) History of the 330th
ASA/RR Co Courtesy of Col. Carlos Collat (USA ret)

On 26 Nov 1943, the 60th Signal Radio Intelligence (RI) Company was constituted in the Army of the United States, and on 23 December 1943, activated at Camp Crowder, Missouri. During WWII, Camp Crowder served as a major personnel processing and training center. A number of radio intelligence companies were formed there which later saw action in both the European and Pacific theaters.

On 8 July 1944, the 60th RI Co left Camp Crowder to participate in field training and exercises at Fort Benning, Georgia. The unit then travelled to Camp Chaffee, Arkansas, from 13 Oct to 8 November 1944, before returning to Fort Benning. In early January 1945, the company received orders to relocate on 19 January to Vint Hill Farms Station, Virginia, where its personnel would undergo advanced operational training prior to deployment overseas. Vint Hill Farms Station was the site of the Signal Security Agency's major training center and its Monitoring Station No. 1. However, the surrender of Germany on 7 May 1945 intervened. On 24 May, the company was redesignated as the 60th Signal Service Company.

With the successful conclusion of the war, the Army set about implementing lessons learned. One of these was the desireability of placing all signals intelligence resources under the operational control of one command, the Army Security Agency (ASA), which was organized on 15 September 1945. (Previously, mobile radio intelligence units had been subordinate to theater commanders.) Although ASA's assets consisted mainly of a series of worldwide field stations, it was also given a handful of mobile support elements to include the 60th Signal Service Company.

On 9 May 1946, the company was relocated from Vint Hill Farms Station to Fort Lewis, Washington. The unit's assigned strength was approximately 4 officers, 3 warrant officers, and 125 enlisted men. Here, it continued an operational mission for the next four years until the Cold war abruptly changed to a shooting one when North Korean Communist forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.

Korea represented a test for the Army Security Agency and its ability to support an Army in the field. The 60th Signal Service Company was selected to represent ASA as its first deployed mobile support unit. Flying out of McChord Air Force Base, the 60th Signal Service Company arrived in Korea on 8 October. It was preceded by the ASA Pacific (advance) and the 50th Signal Service Company, which had a communications security mission. Upon arrival in country, the 60th, now with a personnel strength of 204, was assigned to support the Eighth U.S Army in Seoul. The city had just fallen to Allied troops as a result of the strategic victory initiated by the General Douglas MacArthur's amphibious landing at Inchon.

The 60th Signal Service Company pushed north in support of U.S. forces until it finally arrived at a point north of Pyongyang, the captured North Korean capital. The stay was cut short, however, when Chinese Communist troops entered the war and staged a massive counteroffensive across the Yalu River.

The war, which had begun with shifting tides of military success for both sides, became stalemated in the spring of 1951. By early summer, ASA had deployed a battalion and the 501st Communications Reconnaissance Group to oversee its units in-country. On 25 October 1951, the 60th Signal Service Company was redesignated the 330th Communications Reconnaissance Company.

By late July 1953, open hostilities had ceased along the 38th parallel which divided the Koreas. For its contributions during the war, the 330th Comm Recon company had become one of the most highly decorated units in ASA. The unit received nine campaign credits and two Meritorious Unit Commendations. For the next four years, the 330th remained subordinate to the 501st Comm Recon Group, helping to maintain an uneasy truce.

In September 1955, the 330th Comm Recon relocated from Seoul to Siksong-ni. On 1 July 1956, all communications reconnaissance units were redesignated as Army Security Agency units, to include the 330th. On 15 October 1957, the 501st ASA Group along with its remaining company, the 330th, was inactivated and replaced by a TDA structure which offered increased flexibility.

On 25 June 1962, the 330th ASA Company was reactivated at Camp Wolters, Texas, and assigned to the concurrently activated 303rd ASA Battalion. The battalion's mission was to be ready to deploy in support of STRATCOM. From 1962 to 1966, the approximately 330-man company participated in training exercises and maneuvers.

Vietnam Deployment
With the buildup of U.S. Forces in South Vietnam in response to Communist agression, beginning in the 1965-66 time period, the Army Security Agency began to deploy companies in support of the various Army divisions and field forces. On 2 August 1966, the 330th Company was deployed to Vietnam. There it was assigned to the 313th Radio Research (ASA units used the Radio Research designation as a cover name)Battalion which had the responsibilty for supporting the I Field Force in the II Corps Tactical Zone. (CTZ II was the largest of the four military regions dividing the country.) The 330th was known in-country as the 12th Radio Research (RR) Unit and later as the 330th RR Company.

The 330th was located near Pleiku. Its mission was serving as the primary processing center for the 313th RR (ASA) Battalion and its subordinate direct support units scattered throughout the II CTZ. To meet the increased mission demand, the 330th grew in size until it was assigned over 500 personnel. As it had during the Korean War, the company compiled a distinguished record, earning credit for 12 campaigns and receiving 4 Meritorious Unit Commendations, and 2 Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm.

As Army in-country troop levels began to be lowered, ASA was also forced to reevaluate its support structure. On 22 May 1970, the company was relocated to Nha Trang. Here it continued to serve as both a central processing and support element, gradually assuming some missions once performed by the direct support units now undergoing inactivation or redeployment. On 30 September 1971, the 330th was inactivated and its mission assumed by a concurrently organized field station.

During its history, the 330th ASA Company had served under the ASA umbrella as a direct support unit and a processing company. Upon reactivation on 5 November 1973, the company not only assumed a new type of ASA support mission but began operations in the European Theater for the first time. The mission of the reactivated 330th ASA Company, now turned aviation company, would be to provide support direct to tactical commanders on a real time basis. Upon activation, the unit was assigned to and located with the 502nd ASA Group in Augsburg, Federal republic of Germany.

On 9 January 1974, the first element of the 330th which consisted of CPT John N. Niemczuk, Jr., Commander, one warrant officer, and nine enlisted personnel and four vehicles departed Augsburg for the site which was to become the company headquarters, Building 216 on Sembach Air Base. On 6 January, the ground operations section of the unit occupied the abandoned missile site at Gruenstadter Berg. On 8 May, the unit Aircraft Maintenance Section took temporary possession of a hangar in the southwest corner of Ramstein Air Base. In mid-March MAJ Lemuel G. Brinkley, Jr. arrived to assume command. Finally, the last section of the unit to enter temporary facilities was Flight Operations which moved into Building 2330 at Ramstein Air Base on 22 April 1974.

Within six months of becoming operational, the unit had grown from 0 to over 100 assigned personnel. The company utilized GUARDRAIL aircraft in support of U.S. Army Europe/7th Army. On 29 August 1975, the company headquarters was relocated to Kaiserslautern. The personnel assigned to the 330th over the months and years continued to add to the distinguished lineage of the unit.

In 1977, the Army Security Agency was reorganized into the U.S. Intelligence and Security Command. Although still possessing a worldwide headquarters at Arlington Hall Station, Virginia, the new command lost its verticalized organizational structure which characterized ASA. Consequently, direct tactical support units were transferred to theater commands. On 1 January 1977, the 330th was reassigned to U.S. Army Europe, ending over 30 years of association with the Army Security Agency.