The 504th Military Police Battalion is a combat Military Police Battalion with a Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and three line Companies A, B and C, and is the most decorated Military Police Battalion on active duty today. The Battalion was Constituted 29 July 1921, in the Organized Reserves as the 304th MP Battalion. Organized in April 1922 in Tennessee. Inactivated, January 1938 in Tennessee; concurrently, withdrawn from the Organized reserves and allotted to the Regular Army. Redesignated 1 June 1940 as the 504th Military Police Battalion. Activated 15 May 1941 at Fort Sam Houston,Texas. The battalion now celebrates this day as its birthday. The 504th had no sooner formed than it began training for its first major challenge. For two years, the battalion prepared for its baptism of fire. Company D, 504th Military Police Battalion was inactivated 20 June 1942 at Fort Sam Houston,Texas. In February 1943, the 504th was alerted for deployment to Europe, and on 18 March 1943, landed on the beaches of North Africa as part of the first Allied force of World War II to fight against Rommel's Africa Korps. As the battle widened the battalion spread over some 400,000 square miles of desert. As the Africa Korps gradually fell against the combined American-British advance, the 504th assumed control of huge numbers of German prisoners. But the battalion's attention was quickly turned to the north as the Allied force prepared for their first landing on the European continent to strike against the "soft underbelly" of the Third Reich. On 10 July 1943, elements of the 504th joined 800,000 Allied soldiers as part of Operation " AVALANCHE", the Allied landing at Salerno. Soldiers of the battalion had now been combat tested in nearly every type of operation for which the military police were then trained. Later actions of the 504th during World War II included the August 1944 landing in Southern France to support the earlier D-Day invasion of Normandy and its movement across 500 miles in Europe in one month as part of the Seventh Army. Following the Allied victory over the European Axis powers, the battalion was assigned to the Third Army Headquarters in Munich. In 26 months of fighting, the 504th had emerged from World War II as the most decorated MP battalion of the conflict by earning nine battle stars and four bronze arrowheads for amphibious landings. The battalion was In-activated 20 January 1947, at Heidelberg, Germany. Its colors would not fly again until 1950, with the start of the Korean Conflict. On 2 October 1950, the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 504th Military Police Battalion and Companies A, B and C , were reactivated at Fort Gordon, Georgia and for the next 12 years, remained a combat ready military police force that was called many times to deploy through out the world. The 504th Military Police Battalion was involved in Swift Strike l and ll in South Carolina. In October 1962, the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and Companies A, B, and C , 504th Military Police Battalion was re-stationed to Fort Lewis, Washington. It's time at Fort Lewis was soon to be interrupted by the Nation's involvement in Vietnam. In August 1965, the Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, and Companies A, B and C, 504th Military Police Battalion boarded the troop ship Barrett, in California and entered Cam Rahn Bay on 31 August 1965 and Company A, 504th MP BN disembarked and was transported by truck to Nha Trang. HHD and Companies B and C , landed in Qui Nhon , Republic of Vietnam, and for the next seven years, soldiers of the 504th engaged in the seemingly endless struggle against the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army and were tasked to enforce military law, order and regulations; to control traffic and stragglers, circulation of individuals and protection of property; to handle prisoners of war; to operate checkpoints and route security; and to fight as infantry as required. The battalion was initially located at Qui Nhon, but moved to Phu Thanh (1967), to Phu Bai (1968), and to Da Nang (13 Aug 1970). The battalion rendered military police support in 1 Corps Tactical Zone under the 16th MP Group and finally moved to Long Binh in April 1972. The battalion was involved in countless operations during this period carrying it from one end of Vietnam to the other, until its redeployment from Vietnam back to the Presidio of San Francisco, California in June 1972. On 3 July 1972, Companies A, B and C , 504th Military Police Battalion were In-activated at the Presidio of San Francisco, California. The battalion re-stationed to Fort. Lewis, Washington in June 1984. The present day configuration of the 504th Military Police Battalion is a combat Military Police Battalion with a Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment and three numbered line companies; the 66th MP Company, the 170th MP Company and the 571st MP Company. The 504th also fulfills the Law and Order mission for Fort Lewis and Yakima Training Center. "DUTY, JUSTICE AND HONOR"