Divisions · from 1917

42nd Infantry Division (United States)

US Army National Guard formation.

History

The 42nd Infantry Division (42ID) ("Rainbow") is a division of the United States Army National Guard. It was nicknamed the Rainbow Division because, during rapid mobilization for service the First World War, it was formed from 27 National Guard units from across the US. The division was engaged in four major operations between July 1918 and the armistice in November 1918, and demobilized in 1919. The division then served during World War II in Europe. After the September 11 terrorist attacks of 2001, it carried out multiple homeland security activities; deployments to the War in Afghanistan (2001-2021); as well as to the Iraq War (U.S. phase, 2003-2010).

The division is currently headquartered at the Glenmore Road Armory in Troy, New York. The division headquarters is a unit of the New York Army National Guard. The division currently includes Army National Guard units from fourteen different states, including Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont. As of 2007, 67 percent of 42ID soldiers are located in New York and New Jersey.

Text from Wikipedia: 42nd Infantry Division (United States), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

World War IWorld War II

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

1917
On 1 August 1917, the War Department directed the formation of a composite National Guard division, comprising units from 26 states and the District of Columbia.
1918
On 16 June 1918, General Pershing ordered the 42nd to entrain to "the Champagne region east of Rheims (a sector comparatively more active than Baccarat) to be assigned to General Henri Gouraud's Fourth Army"; relinquishing the current Baccarat sector "to the relieving American 77th and French 61st divisions".
1944
Anti-Tank Company (M3 37mm anti-tank guns, which were replaced by 1944 with M1 57mm anti-tank guns)
1944
The three infantry regiments (222nd, 232nd, & 242nd) and a detachment of the 42ID Headquarters arrived in France at Marseille on 8 to 9 December 1944, and were formed into Task Force (TF) Linden, under Henning Linden, the Assistant Division Commander (ADC).
1945
On 13 October 1945, the War Department published a postwar policy statement for the entire Army.
1989
It was relocated in December 1989 to the Glenmore Armory in Troy, New York and remains there to this day.
2004
In 2004, the division headquarters and division troops of the 42nd Infantry Division deployed as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) III, relieving the 1st Infantry Division (1ID).
2008
Staff Sergeant Alberto B. Martinez, from the officers' unit, was charged in the killing but was acquitted in a court-martial trial at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on 4 December 2008.
2010
Several component units of the brigade were awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation for their service from 8 March 2010 – 4 December 2010 while deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

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:

More history

Did a relative serve with 42nd Infantry Division (United States)? Our free search checks 15 public sources and shows which records match, with links to the pages.