Nickname: Tropic Lightning (also Pineapple) Division. . Shoulder Patch: Red Taro Leaf (for Hawaiian Division-source) with gold lightning bolt (speed). . Source: Regular Army units. . Training: Activated: Oct., 1941, upon disbandment of old Hawaiian Division, utilizing 27th and 35th Infantry Regiments of that unit as a nucleus. The 3d Regt., 296th, from Hawaiian National Guard was later replaced by 161st of Washington – Oregon National Guard. Overseas prior to Jap sneak attack, elements of the division defended installations in Hawaii and underwent strenuous jungle training after Dec. 7. 1941. . Commanding Generals: Maj. Gen. Maxwell Murray. October, 1941, to May. 1942; Maj. Gen. J. Lawton Collins, May 1942, to Jan., 1944; Maj. Gen. Charles L Mullins, Jr., Jan., 1944, to present. . Component Units: (As of Jan., 1943): 27th, 35th and 161st Infantry Regiments; 8th, 64th, 89th (L) and 90th (M) FA Battalions. Higher Commands: Sixth Army. . Awards: Distinguished Unit Citation to Cannon Co. and Co. E, 161st, for action at San Manuel, Luzon, P. I., in Jan., 1945. . Combat Highlights: Action on Guadalcanal, in New Georgia, on Vella LaVella and In Luzon highlighted the bitter jungle campaign of the Tropic Lightning division. It was bombed at Pearl Harbor 7 Dec., 1941. On Guadalcanal, upon entry for combat Jan. 10, 1943, the 25th seized Mt. Austen, knocked out three main Jap pockets and drove through the Jungle to a point east of Cape Esperance to end the campaign. After five months of garrison duty and a brief stop in the Russell Islands, the 25th moved on New Georgia. The struggle for Munda Airfield, July 21 to Aug. 7, by the 161st was first action for 25th troops. By that time the 27th Regiment was taking Zieta and Piru Plantations. Bairoko fell to the 25th after a 19-day jungle march through mud to that important port. Then Arundel Island was occupied (Sept.) and Vella LaVella Island. Rest in New Zealand and New Caledonia was in order and the division began training for the big jump to the Philippines. On Jan. 17, 1945, the 25th went into action on Luzon, taking Binalonan and cutting Hiway 8 in the first slash, an action which resulted in capture of 10,000 Jap artillery shells. San Manuel was taken and a Banzai attack repelled. U. S. divisions rushing for Manila were protected on the North by the 25th which then took Hiway 5 northward to Balete Pass. It required 60 days to force a passage into the Cagayan Valley. The division had to scale 1500-foot ridges to seize the Balete Pass, but with its capture, the most rugged, strongly defended positions left to the Japs in that area had fallen.