29th Infantry Division (United States)

History

The 29th Infantry Division (29th ID), also known as the "Blue and Gray Division", is an infantry division of the United States Army based at Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County, Virginia. The division is currently a formation of the Army National Guard and includes units from Virginia, Maryland, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia.

Formed in 1917, the division deployed to France as a part of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. It was called up for service again during World War II. The division's 116th Regiment, attached to the 1st Infantry Division, was the first wave of troops ashore during the Normandy landings in France (Operation Overlord). It supported a special Ranger unit tasked with clearing strong points at Omaha Beach. The rest of the 29th ID came ashore later, then advanced to Saint-Lô, and eventually through France and into Germany.

Following the end of World War II, the division saw frequent reorganizations (especially Pentomic), and was then inactivated in 1968. It was reformed in 1985, taking part in numerous training exercises. Then in the 1990s it made peacekeeping deployments to Bosnia and Herzegovina (SFOR10) and Kosovo (KFOR) as command elements. Units of the division deployed to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Then parts of the division fought in the War in Afghanistan; and in the Iraq War as a part of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.

After the initial US withdrawal from Iraq in 2010, it again sent forces to the Middle East for Operation Spartan Shield. In 2016, two separate elements of the 29th deployed overseas. In July 2016, over 80 soldiers deployed in support of Operation Inherent Resolve, a U.S. government military campaign against Islamic State militants.

Text from Wikipedia: 29th Infantry Division (United States), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

1. 1917
   The 29th Division was constituted on paper on 18 July 1917, three months after the American entry into World War I, in the National Guard.
2. 1939
   For the additional week's training directed by the War Department for all National Guard units that winter, the Virginia elements of the 29th Division assembled 12–18 November 1939 at Virginia Beach, while the Maryland and District of Columbia elements assembled at Camp Ritchie.
3. 1941
   3× Howitzer batteries (M1918 155mm towed howitzers, replaced by M1 155mm towed howitzers in 1941)
4. 1942
   The 29th Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Leonard Gerow, was sent to England on 5 October 1942 on RMS Queen Mary.
5. 1946
   The 29th Infantry Division returned to the United States in January 1946 and was demobilized and inactivated on 17 January 1946 at Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.
6. 1963
   Also in 1963, the division's Maryland component would be activated in Cambridge, Maryland due to the Cambridge movement.
7. 1986
   On 1 July 1986, the Aviation Brigade of the division was organized and federally recognized at Bel Air, Maryland.
8. 2001
   Hundreds of soldiers from the 29th Infantry Division completed nine days of training on 16 June 2001 at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to prepare for their peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, as the second division headquarters to be deployed as a part of SFOR 10.
9. 2006
   In December 2006, the division took command of the Eastern region of Kosovo's peacekeeping force, to provide security in the region.

Dates and events quoted from the same Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Records that place someone with this unit

A unit history doesn't name everyone who served. These records do:

• Morning reports and unit rosters: access (National Personnel Records Center)
• Search Army morning reports, 1912–1946 (National Archives Catalog)
• Unit and organizational records held in St. Louis

More history

• U.S. Army Center of Military History
• Wikipedia: 29th Infantry Division (United States)