058 92nd Infantry Division

Nickname: Buffalo Division. . Shoulder Patch: Circular patch containing black buffalo on olive drab background; patch is black-bordered. In days of hostile Indians, Negro troops on border patrol killed buffaloes and in wintertime used skins to clothe themselves. Indians termed them “Black Buffaloes.” . Slogan: “Deeds Not Words.” . Song: “Division 92,” written by Mrs. Helen Osborne. . History: Organized October, 1917, Camps Funston, Grant, Dodge, Upton, Meade and Dix, with an almost entirely Negro personnel, assembled at Camp Upton, June, 1918. Assembled France July 18, 1918. Action: St. Die Sector, Moselle offensive. Unit returned to U. S. in February, 1919. Training: Reactivated: Oct. 15, 1942; assigned III Corps, Second Army, Ft. McClellan, Alabama. Moved to Ft. Huachuca, April, 1943, Third Army Maneuvers: February 7 to April 3, 1944, Louisiana, VIII Corps, Third Army. Overseas: June, 1944 (Africa). . Commanding General: Maj. Gen. E. M. Almond, October 15, 1942, to August, 1945. No new commander named. . Component Units: (As of June, 1944) 365th, 370th and 371st Infantry Regiments; 597th, 598th, 599th (L) and 600th (M) FA Battalions. Higher command (combat): Fifth Army. . Combat Highlights: The Buffalo Division was first committed to combat in the present war during the week of Aug. 20, 1944, with the Fifth Army in the Italian campaign. At the beginning the role of the 92nd was a defensive one, the troops getting their seasoning for a brief period. The crossing of the Arno River, was the first major offensive action in which the 92nd participated, the division having entered combat in the upper Arno Valley. The first full attack as a division came in February of 1945. The Buffaloes kicked off on the Fiume LaForce line, some three and a half miles south of the enemy stronghold of Massa. Objective of this attack was Monte Canale, a tremendous peak dominating the entire coastal terrain. There were heavy losses for the division in the Lingurian area. The fighting was vicious in that blood-washed terrain. Major actions of the division included the Rome-Arno campaign, which began Jan. 22, 1945; the Arno-Gothic line campaign and the Gothic line-Northern Italy campaign. Among the individual exploits of Buffalo Division personnel are those of Capt. Charles F. Gandy, Washington, D. C.; Sgt. Rodger Holmes, South Carolina, and 2nd Lt. John E. Birdsong, Washington, D. C. Birdsong was commissioned on the battlefield, received the Silver Star and the Bronze Star Medal. All three men were killed in battle.