Nickname: Rainbow Division

Shoulder Patch: A rainbow, representing the WWI division’s men from many states.

Song: “Mountain Dew” (semiofficial), Sprague-Coleman Co.

History: Organized August 1917 from National Guard units of 26 states and D.C. Reached France by November 1917; entered the line in the Lunéville sector, March 1918.

Action: Champagne-Marne and Aisne-Marne offensives.

Training: Reactivated July 1943 at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma, under X and XVI Corps.

Overseas: November 1944 (ETO).

Commanding General: Maj. Gen. Harry J. Collins, July 1943–present.

Component Units (Nov. 1944): 222nd, 232nd, 242nd Infantry Regiments; 232nd, 392nd, 402nd (L), 542nd (M) FA Battalions.

Higher Command: Seventh Army.

Awards: Distinguished Unit Citation, 1st Battalion, 242nd Infantry, for action Jan. 9–10, 1945.

Combat Highlights: A famed WWI unit, the Rainbow Division went overseas in November 1944 too late for Normandy, entering combat that December under the Seventh Army near Saarbrücken as an emergency task force plugging gaps in the line. It held through the winter while the Third Army countered the German bulge to the north, and was officially folded into the Seventh Army in February. Sgt. Vito R. Bertoldo won the Medal of Honor at Hatten in January 1945.

In March the Division made its first penetration of Germany, driving through the Hardt Mountains — Pfc. Russell O. Kubiak, Cpl. Richard B. Jones, and Sgt. Daniel J. Wofford earned Silver Stars there. April brought the fall of Dahn and Busenberg; pushing 25 miles past the Rhine, the 42nd took Fürth and Schweinau, then Schweinfurt in May before driving on Nuremberg. Rainbow men were first into Munich and co-liberated Dachau’s 32,000 survivors. The Division then pushed into Austria, crossed the Inn River, captured senior Nazi generals, and occupied the German film capital shortly after V-E Day.