Campaigns: UN Defensive; UN Offensive; CCF Intervention; First UN Counteroffensive; CCF Spring Offensive; UN Summer-Fall Offensive; Second Korean Winter

Decorations: Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Streamer embroidered WAEGWAN-TAEGU; Chryssoun Aristion Andrias (Bravery Gold Medal of Greece), Streamer embroidered KOREA

Commanders: MG Hobart Gay (Sep 1949-Feb 1951); MG Charles Palmer (Feb-Jul 1951); MG Thomas Harrold (Jul 1951-Mar 1952)

Service:  The 1st Cavalry Division, initially organized in September 1921 at Fort Bliss, Texas, was serving on occupation duty in Japan when the Korean War began in the summer of 1950. On 18 July 1950 elements of the division went ashore at P'ohang-dong, South Korea, moving quickly westward to block the enemy along the main Taejon-Taegu corridor, which led back to the ports on the Sea of Japan. On 22 July the division's 8th Cavalry relieved an element of the 24th Infantry Division at Yongdong, about 20 miles west of Taejon, and the 5th Cavalry moved to the high ground east of the town. Under strength, the 1st Cavalry Division had little time to organize these positions. The enemy quickly captured Taejon and continued to drive eastward toward Yongdong, which fell on 25 July. With unrelenting pressure from the enemy, the division withdrew to Kumch'on and later east of the Naktong River, where it held part of the front near Taegu on the Pusan perimeter. During the month of August "The First Team" successfully countered five major North Korean attacks in that section.

In early September the division launched an attack against the "Walled City," a series of high mountain ridges along the perimeter, which the enemy repelled. On 15 September, however, the United Nations began a new offensive with an amphibious landing at Inch'on, near Seoul; with the opening of the second front, the 1st Cavalry Division began a drive northwest of Taegu. Six days later the division broke out of the perimeter, and North Korean pressure in the south ended. Pursuit of the enemy followed, and on 27 September the division met the 7th Infantry Division at Osan. From there the 1st Cavalry Division shifted north to the Kaesong area near the 38th Parallel, the dividing line between North and South Korea. On 9 October the 1st Cavalry Division was ordered to take Kumch'on in North Korea, which fell on 14 October. Shortly thereafter the division reached P'yongyang, the North Korean capital. Elements of the division linked up with the 187th Airborne Infantry at Sunch'on, and other elements turned southwest to Chinnamp'o, the main port of North Korea.

The Chinese Communists threatened to intervene in the war, and on 1 November a new, more savage conflict began. Waves of enemy forces swept over the 1st Cavalry Division area near Unsan, and the division fell back to a line between the coast and the Taedong River valley. On 22 November the division was placed in reserve for rest and reorganization, but four days later it was back in action. By 12 December the division had withdrawn to only six miles north of Seoul, and in January 1951 it occupied positions south of Seoul in the Ch'ungju area. Seoul had been captured, but the enemy did not cross the Han River.

When the enemy failed to follow up its recapture of Seoul, the 1st Cavalry Division undertook a reconnaissance in force, resulting in a limited offensive, north and west of the capital. By the end of February "The First Team" had reached the Hongch'on area in the central front, midway between Seoul and the Sea of Japan. In February the 1st Cavalry Division pushed to the Hwach'on Reservoir north of the 38th Parallel and then went into reserve. On 22 April the Chinese Communists began a new offensive to dislodge the UN forces, and the division was given the mission of defending Seoul and the area north of the city. The division pushed northward, and by the end of May it was again in North Korea. The 1st Cavalry Division's next assignment was to attack the "Iron Triangle," an area from P'yonggang southeast to Ch'orwon and southwest to Kumhwa, which served as a marshalling zone for the enemy.

UN forces began the summer-fall campaign on 8 July 1951, and two days later the enemy entered into cease-fire negotiations at Kaesong. Shortly after the campaign was launched, the 1st Cavalry Division went into reserve. At the end of the month the division was ordered back to positions near the Iron Triangle, where it engaged in sporadic, bitter firefights. An overall lull in the fighting, however, allowed the enemy to improve its positions. In October the 1st Cavalry Division began a drive to dislodge the enemy from advantageous positions northeast of the area from the Imjin River to Ch'orwon. On 19 November elements of the 3d Infantry Division relieved the 1st Cavalry Division, and "The First Team" went into reserve.

In December 1951 the 45th Infantry Division replaced the 1st Cavalry Division, which then began redeploying to Hokkaido, Japan. The last element of the 1st arrived in Japan in mid-January 1952, where the division remained ready to return to Korea if necessary. In October 1952 a regimental combat team organized around the 8th Cavalry deployed to Korea as a security force in the Pusan-Taegu area. In December a team developed around the 7th Cavalry replaced it, and that team was in turn replaced by the 5th Cavalry Regimental Combat Team in February 1953. The 5th Cavalry returned to Japan in April 1953, ending 1st Cavalry Division's combat operations in Korea.