The 12th Special Forces Group (Airborne) 2th SFG(A)traces its lineage from the 6th Company, 2nd Battalion, First Regiment,

1st Special Service Force The 1st Special Service Force (FSSF) was an elite joint American–Canadian commando unit in World War II, formed by Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick of the Operations Division of the U.S. General Staff. During the Italian campaign of ...

, a joint Canadian-American special operations unit from World War II. The 12th Special Forces Group was reconstituted, but not activated, as a Regular Army special operations unit under the 1st Special Forces in 1960 and was subsequently allotted to the Army Reserve in 1969 where it remained until deactivation in 1995.

History

Activated 9 July 1942 at

Fort William Henry Harrison Fort William Henry Harrison is the Montana National Guard’s training facility, located near Helena, Montana. It is also home to the Fort Harrison VA Medical Center and Montana State Veterans Cemetery, located adjacent to the military insta ...

, Montana. Disbanded 6 January 1945 in France. Reconstituted 15 April 1960 in Regular Army; concurrently, consolidated with Company C, 2d Infantry Battalion and consolidated unit designated as Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 12th Special Forces Group, 1st Special Forces. Withdrawn 14 December 1969 from the Regular Army and allotted to the

Army Reserve Army Reserve refers to a land-based military reserve force, including: *Army Reserve (Ireland) *Army Reserve (United Kingdom) *Australian Army Reserve *Canadian Army Reserve * New Zealand Army Reserve *United States Army Reserve *United States Navy ...

(organic elements concurrently constituted). Group activated 24 March 1961 with headquarters at

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, Illinois. Location of headquarters changed 19 January 1964 to Oak Park, Illinois; changed 1 September 1970 to Arlington Heights, Illinois. Elements Located at

Richards-Gebaur AFB Richards-Gebaur Memorial Airport is a former airport that operated alongside Richards-Gebaur Air Reserve Station (also Richards-Gebaur Air Force Station) until the base's closure in 1994, and until it was closed in 1999. Formerly, it was oper ...

in Kansas City, Missouri in 1978–80, Northern California (

Hamilton AFB Hamilton Field (Hamilton AFB) was a United States Air Force base, which was inactivated in 1973, decommissioned in 1974, and put into a caretaker status with the Air Force Reserve Command, Air Force Reserve until 1976. It was transferred to the ...

), and San Diego, California (Van Deman Hall – USAR). The Group was inactivated, along with the 11th Special Forces Group, on 15 September 1995. Many members of the 12th SFG transferred to the

Army National Guard The Army National Guard (ARNG) is an organized Militia (United States), militia force and a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Army. It is simultaneously part of two differen ...

's 20th SFG following the group's inactivation.

References

{{US Army SFG Military units and formations established in 1942 Special Forces 012 Military units and formations disestablished in 1995