7th Infantry Division (United States)

History

The 7th Infantry Division (Multi-Domain Command–Pacific) is an active duty division of the United States Army based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. It is charged with maintaining the capability of two Stryker infantry brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade, and a Division Artillery Unit, as well as preparing units for several U.S. Army Pacific yearly exercises. The 7th Infantry Division is the only active-duty multi-component division headquarters in the Army. Major General Bernard J. Harrington commands the division. The division also supervises the former components of the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force and an Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space Capabilities, or I2CEWS battalion.

The division was first activated in December 1917, towards the end of World War I. It has been based at Fort Ord, California for most of its history. Although elements of the division saw brief active service in World War I, it is best known for its participation in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II where it took heavy casualties engaging the Imperial Japanese Army in the Aleutian Islands, Leyte, and Okinawa. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, the division was stationed in Japan and Korea, and with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 was one of the first units in action. It took part in the Inchon Landings and the advance north until Chinese forces counter-attacked and almost overwhelmed the scattered division. The 7th later went on to fight in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and the Battle of Old Baldy.

Text from Wikipedia: 7th Infantry Division (United States), CC BY-SA 4.0, lightly trimmed.

Wars and campaigns

From Wikidata (CC0).

Key dates

1. 1917
   The War Department ordered the formation of the 7th Division on 6 December 1917 at Camp Wheeler, near Macon, Georgia.
2. 1918
   On 10 October 1918, the division relieved the 90th Division on the front with a front line from Sablière, Vandières (incl), Côte 327, north edge of Bois des Rappes, la Souleuvre Fme, 1½ km south of Rembercourt-sur-Mad.
3. 1937
   The division headquarters was also provisionally formed on 21 July 1937 for the August 1937 Fourth Army maneuvers at Camp Ripley.
4. 1943
   Elements landed on 11 May 1943, spearheaded by the 17th Infantry Regiment.
5. 1944
   On 20 October 1944, the division made an assault landing at Dulag, Leyte, initially only encountering light resistance.
6. 1950
   Supported by 230 ships of the US Navy, X Corps began landing at Inchon on 15 September 1950, catching the Korean People's Army (KPA) by surprise.
7. 1963
   On 1 July 1963, the division was reorganized under the Reorganization Objective Army Division (ROAD) Table of Organization and Equipment.
8. 1991
   In 1991 the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended the closing of Fort Ord due to the escalating cost of living on the central California coastline.
9. 2006
   It was subsequently inactivated on 22 August 2006 at Fort Carson.

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: 7th Infantry Division (United States)