Lineage
Constituted and organized 9 March 1886 and 7 April 1887 from existing companies in the Washington Territorial Militia as the 1st (west of Cascade Mountains) and 2d (east of Cascade Mountains) Regiments of Infantry
(Active militia Washington Territory redesignated Washington [Territory] National Guard 28 January 1888)
2d Infantry Regiment reorganized and redesignated 23 July 1895 as 1st Infantry Battalion
1st Infantry Regiment reorganized and redesignated in 1897 as 2d Infantry Battalion
Elements of 1st and 2d Infantry Battalions consolidated in part, redesignated 1st Regiment, Washington Volunteer Infantry, and mustered into Federal service 6–13 May 1898 at Tacoma; mustered out 1 November 1899 at San Francisco, California
Remaining companies of 1st and 2d Infantry Battalions reorganized as Independent Battalion, Washington Volunteer Infantry, and mustered into Federal service 2–15 July 1898 at Tacoma; mustered out 28 October 1898 at Vancouver Barracks
Elements reorganized and consolidated with 1st and 2d Infantry Regiments, Washington National Guard. (organized in 1898), and redesignated 9 November 1899 as 1st Infantry Regiment
Redesignated in May 1903 as 2d Infantry Regiment
(Companies C,K, and M withdrawn, converted, and redesignated 5th, 3d, and 2d Companies, Coast Artillery Reserve Corps; Company A disbanded, then reorganized in 1909 as 4th Company, Coast Artillery Corps)
Mustered int Federal service 28 June 1916 at Camp Elmer M. Brown, Washington, for Mexican Border; mustered out 8 October 1916 at American Lake
Called into Federal service 25 March 1917; drafted into Federal service 5 August 1917
Consolidated with elements of 3d Infantry Regiment, District of Columbia National Guard, and redesignated 19 September 1917 as 161st Infantry, an element of the 41st Infantry Division (United States)
Demobilized 1–8 March 1919 at Camp Dix, New Jersey and Camp Dodge, Iowa
State of Washington elements reorganized 1 January 1921 in the Washington National Guard as 161st Infantry; assigned to the 41st Division
(1st Battalion and Supply Company withdrawn, converted, and redesignated 10 May 1921 as 146th Field Artillery Regiment (United States))
Inducted into Federal service 16 September 1940 at Spokane
Relieved from assignment to the 41st Division 14 February 1942
Assigned to the 25th Infantry Division (United States) 3 August 1942
Relieved from assignment to the 25th Infantry Division and inactivated 1 November 1945 at Nagoya, Japan
Assigned to the 41st Division 17 June 1946
Reorganized and Federally recognized 24 March 1947 with Headquarters at Spokane
Reorganized 15 April 1959 as 161st Infantry, a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, to consist of the 1st and 2d Battle Groups, elements of the 41st Infantry Division
Reorganized 1 March 1963 to consist of the 1st and 2d Battalions
Reorganized 1 January 1968 to consist of the 1st, 2d, and 3d Battalions, elements of 81st Infantry Brigade
Reorganized 1 May 1971 to consist of the 1st and 3d Battalions, elements of 81st Infantry Brigade,and the 2d Battalion
Reorganized 1 January 1974 to consist of the 1st and 3d Battalions, elements of 81st Infantry Brigade
Withdrawn 1 May 1989 from the Combat Arms Regimental System and reorganized under the United States Army Regimental System with Headquarters at Spokane
Reorganized 1 October 1998: Retaining the 1st Battalion as an element of the 81st Infantry Brigade, Headquarters remaining in Spokane; one company moved to Kent; Deactivating the 3rd Battalion, Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) in Kent; Detachment 1, HHC (Puyallup); Company A (Kent); Company B (Kent), Company C (Redmond), Company D (Kent), and Company E (Shelton).
Campaign
Philippine Insurrection
- Manila
- Luzon 1899
World War I
- Streamer without inscription
World War II
- Guadalcanal
- Northern Solomons
- Luzon
Operation Iraqi Freedom
- Baghdad, Iraq (2004-2005)
- Balad, Iraq (2008-2009)