The first American artillery unit to enter this city in 15 years convoyed across 110 miles of East German territory and through throngs of cheering Berliners Sunday to support Allied forces sationed here. Battery A of the 8th Infantry Division’s 2nd Howitzer Battalion 12th Artillery, arrived in Berlin via autobahn from West Germany with the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry. The unit left Baumholder, Germany, Saturday in -response to an early morning alert and proceeded to the check point at Helmstedt before beginning the last portion of the trip to Berlin at 4:lO a.m. Sunday. The battery, made up of towed 105mm howitzers and attached forward observer personnel, is under the command of Captain, John H. Richards. The unit is a member of one of the Army’s most decorated field artillery battalions, “the Vikings,” presently commanded by Major Marion V. Baker. Constituted in June, 1916, as the 12th Field Artillery Regiment and organized a year later at Fort Myer, Va., as an element of the 2nd Division, the contingent was joined with the 503rd Field Artillery Battalion and the consolidated unit redesignated 12th FA Bn,November 1951. Prior to being ordered to Berlin, the battery was undergoing extensive field training in preparation for its annual Army Training Test. The rest of the Viking element remained in Baumholder in training for its battalion test. Sergeant first - Class Warren D. Puyne summed up the Vikings’ reaction to the Berlin order when he said, “I‘ve never been prouder than I am right now to be an American soldier.” During six major campaigns in World War I, the artillery group received Distinguished Unit Streamers, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, embroidered, for combat duty at Aisne-Marne and Meuse Argonne and the Fourragere in the colors of the French Croix de Guerre. The Vikings participated in campaigns at Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe in World War II. For exceptional duty rendered at Ardennes and Elsenborn, the unit was cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army. The 12th Artillery returned State side after the Korean conflict With four major battle decorations for campaigns during the UN defensive and offensive, Second and Third Korean winter and the Korea summer-fa11 engagements of 1952 and 1953. The unit displays the Distinguished Unit Streamers, embroidered, Hongchon Chipyong-Ni; Streamers, Republic of Korea Presidential unit Citation, embroidered, Korea and Naktong River Line. First in History Last Sunday afternoon marked the first time in recorded history that armed elements of a foreign power have entered the city of Berlin to fight, if necessary, to defend Berliners. Advance elements of the 1st Battle Group, 18th Infantry and the 8th Infantry’s Division, 2nd Howitzer Battallion 12th Artillery were cheered by thousands of local citizens. Throughout history, upon the arrival of foreign troops, Berliners remained behind closed shutters. On this occasion, they threw flowers. On October 16, 1757, the Austrians occupied Berlin. Three years later, again in October, the Russians came to plunder and destroy. Almost 50 years later the French entered Berlin. More recently, in 1945, the Russians came back to Berlin, again to plunder and to occupy. The Americans, too, entered Berlin as conquerors at the end of World War II. They helped rebuild a new Berlin from the rubble and remain today to protect the dignity of the individual.