Command Sergeant Major Harold F. Schrewsberry, U.S. Army

Command Sergeant Major Harold F. Shrewsberry

U.S. Army,  Retired

Inducted 2024

Harold F. Shrewsberry enlisted in the Army in 1966. After Basic and AIT training at Fort Jackson, he was assigned to the 62^nd Medical Group as a 36K. While at Fort Lewis, he deployed in support of REFORGER ’68, and upon returning from Germany was assigned to the 7^th ID in Korea. There, he was promoted to SSG and designated MOS 13E for duty in the 1-79^th FA Bn. He was then selected as Drill Sergeant and sent to the USATC at Fort Campbell. Next, came his first combat duty in Vietnam where he continued his high level of performance both as a Liaison NCO with 1-21^st FA, 1^st Cavalry Division (Air Mobile), and as a FA Advisor with 1^st Regional Assistance Command. The 1-21^st FA selected him to organize and serve as chief of fire of a provisional, three-gun, battery assigned to the defense of Bien Hoa airfield. Later, the Regional Assistance Command made him the acting 1SG of an isolated radar detachment. Following Vietnam and two years on the cadre of the US Army Retraining Brigade at Ft Riley, Shrewsberry embarked on 18 consecutive years of high-level FA NCO assignments. From November 1975 to July 1986 he was 1-78th FA Battalion FDC Chief, ISG HHB 1-94th FA (1^st AD)/HHB 1-4th FA (75^th BDE)/ HHB 1-78th FA (1^st AD)/B BTRY 3-9th FA (5^th ID), and 5^th ID Operations SGM. During this period he earned four Meritorious Service Medals and was selected as 1^st  AD “Trooper of the Year” and inducted into the prestigious Sergeant Morales Club. Upon graduation from the Sergeants Major Academy and promotion to CSM, Shrewsberry was assigned to the 7^th ID (Light) at Fort Ord where he served consecutively as CSM of 2-8th FA and Division Artillery. The 7^th ID was the Army’s first, and at that time only, light division. There was an emphasis on “light fighter ethos” which included strenuous physical training and lots of field time. During his time as the 7th ID DIVARTY CSM, he oversaw the Army’s first NTC rotation for a Light Division, the initial Army fielding of the M119 light howitzer, and DIVARTY participation in Operation Just Cause – the invasion of Panama. He then moved to Germany where he served as CSM for two large communities, Ansbach and Augsburg, and as CSM for VII Corps Artillery. He deployed in support of DESERT STORM/SHIELD where the delivery of timely and accurate massive fires in support of VII Corps ground operations was in no small part due to his thorough preparation of Artillery soldiers. The Army then sent Shrewsberry to Fort Sill to be Commandant of the Field Artillery NCO Academy. There he gained re-accreditation of FA BNOC and ANOC. As a final active-duty assignment, he was installed as CSM of one of the Army’s few direct reporting units, Operations Test & Evaluation Command. He retired in 1996 after a successful 30-year career in the Army, along the way, earning two Bronze Stars, two Legions of Merit, and six Meritorious Service Medals. Post retirement, Shrewsberry worked an additional 20 years in private industry and for the federal government. Highlights include a special interim assignment in the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, three years with the Department of Education as a program manager for database design, and 10 years with the Federal Communications Commission, Office of the Inspector General. To this day, CSM Shrewsberry remains a patriot of high moral character, boundless energy, and selfless determination.