The regiment was formed in Echmiatsin, Armenian SSR in January 1943 and was funded entirely by diaspora Armenians living, among other countries, in Cuba, Cyprus, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the United States. Under the auspices of the Archbishop Gevorg VI Chorekjian, US$115,000 were raised in the United States; C$37,000 in Canada; £L185,000 in Lebanon; £Syr276,000 in Syria; £E14,000 in Egypt; and 2.5 million rials in Iran. The Armenian Apostolic Church itself donated gifts in the area totaling around 800,000 rubles, 1,000 British sterling, and 50,000 in Soviet rubles. Various fund raising committees were established, including the first, on March 7, 1943, in New York City.