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 First Infantry Division, was the first wave of troops ashore during Operation Overlord, the landings in Normandy, France. 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 and deactivations. The 29th did not see combat through most of the five decades, but it participated in numerous training exercises throughout the world.
In October 2019, over 450 29th soldiers deployed in support of Operation Spartan Shield.[4][5]
The division most recently deployed to Kuwait for its second Task Force Spartan rotation in 2021. From Kuwait, staff officers from 29ID Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion coordinated the rescue of approximately 11,000 refugees from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover of the nation.
As the division was composed of men from states that had units that fought for both the North and South during the American Civil War, it was nicknamed the "Blue and Gray" division, after the blue uniforms of the Union and the gray uniforms of the Confederate armies.[7] The division was organized as a unit on 25 August 1917 at Camp McClellan, Alabama.[6]: 319 In January 1918, the Delaware units were relieved from assignment to the division.
Major General Charles G. Morton and Brigadier General Harry H. Bandholtz at a review in Alsace, France, 1918
During its 21 days in combat,[9] the 29th Division advanced seven kilometers, captured 2,148 prisoners, and knocked out over 250 machine guns or artillery pieces. Thirty percent of the division were casualties in the war, including 170 officers and 5,691 enlisted men were killed or wounded.[10] Shortly thereafter the Armistice with Germany was signed on 11 November 1918, ending hostilities between the Central Powers and the Allied Powers. The division returned to the United States in May 1919.[8] It demobilized on 30 May at Camp Dix, New Jersey,[6]: 319
Order of battle, 1917–1918
Headquarters, 29th Division
57th Infantry Brigade
113th Infantry Regiment (former 4th New Jersey Infantry less Headquarters Company, Machine Gun Company, Company L, and part of Supply Company, 1st New Jersey Infantry less Company K, and 2nd New Jersey Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies G and L)
114th Infantry Regiment (former 3rd New Jersey Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies I and L, and 5th New Jersey Infantry less Company F)
111th Machine Gun Battalion (former Machine Gun Company, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Machine Gun Company and Company L, 2nd New Jersey Infantry)
115th Infantry Regiment (former 1st Maryland Infantry less Company H, 5th Maryland Infantry less Headquarters, Supply, and Machine Gun Companies, and 4th Maryland Infantry less band, Machine Gun Company, and Companies A, B, D, E, F, H, and I)
116th Infantry Regiment (former 2nd Virginia Infantry, 1st Virginia Infantry less band) and Machine Gun Company, and 4th Virginia Infantry less Headquarters Company, Machine Gun Company, and Companies D, I, and M)
112th Machine Gun Battalion (former Company H, 1st Maryland Infantry, Machine Gun Company, 4th Maryland Infantry, and Machine Gun Company and Company D, 4th Virginia Infantry)
54th Field Artillery Brigade
110th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (former Headquarters and Supply Companies, 5th Maryland Infantry, Batteries A, B and C, Maryland Field Artillery, Batteries A and B, D.C. Field Artillery, 1st Squadron, D.C. Cavalry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps)
111th Field Artillery Regiment (75 mm) (former 1st Virginia Field Artillery, Headquarters Company and Companies I and M, 4th Virginia Infantry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps)
112th Field Artillery Regiment (155 mm) (former 1st New Jersey Field Artillery less Battery F, Troops B and D, 1st New Jersey Cavalry, and detachment from Company A, Virginia Signal Corps)
104th Trench Mortar Battery (former Battery F, New Jersey Field Artillery)
110th Machine Gun Battalion (former Machine Gun Company, 5th Maryland Infantry, Machine Gun Company, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Machine Gun Company, 1st Virginia Infantry)
104th Engineer Regiment (former 1st Battalion. New Jersey Engineers, Company K, 1st New Jersey Infantry, Company G, 2nd New Jersey Infantry, Companies I and L, 3rd New Jersey Infantry, Co. L, 4th New Jersey Infantry, and Co. F, 5th New Jersey Infantry)
104th Field Signal Battalion (former Companies A and C, New Jersey Signal Corps, and Company B, D.C. Signal Corps)
Headquarters Troop, 29th Division (detachment from 1st Squadron, New Jersey Cavalry)
104th Ammunition Train (former 1st Squadron, Virginia Cavalry, and individual transfers)
104th Supply Train (individual transfers)
104th Engineer Train (individual transfers)
104th Sanitary Train
113th, 114th, 115th, and 116th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals (former 1st Maryland Ambulance Company, 1st Virginia Ambulance Company, 1st New Jersey Field Hospital, 1st Maryland Field Hospital, and 1st Virginia Field Hospital)[11]
Interwar period
In accordance with the National Defense Act of 1920, the division was allotted to the states of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, and assigned to the III Corps in 1921. The division headquarters was reorganized and federally recognized on 31 July 1923 at Washington, D.C. The designated mobilization training center for the “Blue and Gray” Division was Fort Eustis, Virginia. Units from New Jersey that were part of the 29th Division in World War I were assigned to the new 44th Division, which encompassed troops from New Jersey and New York. As a result, the 57th Infantry Brigade and 104th Engineer Regiment went to the 44th Division, while the newly constituted 91st Infantry Brigade and 121st Engineer Regiment were assigned the 29th Division. When 155 mm howitzers were returned to infantry divisions beginning in 1929, a formerly non-divisional unit from Pennsylvania was assigned to the division.
From 1922 to 1936, the division's subordinate units held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Camp Albert C. Ritchie, near Cascade, Maryland, for Maryland and District of Columbia units, the Virginia Beach State Military Reservation at Virginia Beach, Virginia, for Virginia units, and the target range in Monroe and Wayne Counties, Pennsylvania, near Tobyhanna, for the artillery units. The division staff, composed of personnel from all four states, came together to conduct joint training most summers before World War II. The division staff's summer training periods were conducted most years at Camp Ritchie, Virginia Beach, or Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. The headquarters also participated in several corps area and army-level command post exercises (CPXs) during the interwar years. However, the first time the majority of the division's subordinate units had the chance to operate together came in June 1935 during the portion of the First Army maneuvers held at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania.
Unfortunately, the 91st Infantry Brigade and the 121st Engineers did not attend the maneuver. The poliomyelitis epidemic which had developed in Virginia that summer prompted the governor of Pennsylvania to refuse the brigade's entry into the state. The next opportunity to train as one unit came in August 1939 when the entire division was assembled at Manassas, Virginia, for the Third Corps Area concentration of the First Army maneuvers. In that maneuver, the “Blue and Gray” Division operated as part of the provisional III Corps. 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. The final division training event before induction came in August 1940 when the 29th Division participated in the First Army maneuvers near Canton, New York. The division again operated as part of the III Corps against the provisional I Corps. The division was relieved from the III Corps on 30 December 1940 and assigned to the II Corps.[12]
Commanders
Major General Anton Stephan (Washington, D.C.), 31 July 1923 – 10 April 1934
Major General Milton A. Reckord (Maryland), 14 April 1934–February 1942
Order of battle, 1939
Italics indicates state of headquarters allocation; headquarters not organized or inactive.
At the outbreak of World War II, the U.S. Army began the buildup and reorganization of its fighting forces. The division was called into active service on 3 February 1941.[8] Elements of the division were then sent to Fort Meade, Maryland for training.[10] The 58th and 88th Infantry Brigades were inactivated as part of an army-wide removal of brigades from divisions.[13]: 159 Instead, the core units of the division were its three infantry regiments, along with supporting units. On 12 March 1942, over three months after the Japaneseattack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent American entrance into World War II, with this reorganization complete the division was redesignated as the 29th Infantry Division and began preparing for overseas deployment to Europe.[6]: 320
In May 1942, the 37th Infantry Division had been alerted for movement to England, and sent its 112th Engineer Combat Battalion ahead as part of the advance party. Orders were changed, and the 37th was diverted for service in the Pacific Theater. There was no time to recall the 112th, or to find and assign a new battalion. The War Department instead ordered the 121st Engineer Combat Battalion, less five officers and 120 men, moved from Fort Meade to Fort Indiantown Gap, and the unit was redesignated the 117th Engineer Combat Battalion and assigned to the 37th Infantry Division. Around the cadre of five officers and 120 men, in addition to Selective Service fillers sent from Fort Hayes, Ohio, and Fort Devens, Massachusetts, a new 121st Engineer Combat Battalion was organized.
The 29th Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Leonard Gerow, was sent to England on 5 October 1942 on RMS Queen Mary.[8] It was based throughout England and Scotland, where it immediately began training for an invasion of northern Europe across the English Channel. In May 1943 the division moved to the Devon–Cornwallpeninsula and started conducting simulated attacks against fortified positions.[10] At this time the division was assigned to V Corps of the U.S. First Army.[14][15]: 30 In July the divisional commander, Major General Gerow, was promoted to command V Corps and Major General Charles Hunter Gerhardt assumed command of the division, remaining in this post for the rest of the war.
Omaha was known to be the most difficult of the five landing beaches, due to its rough terrain and bluffs overlooking the beach, which had been well fortified by its German defenders of the 352nd Infantry Division.[16]: 86 [17] The 116th Infantry was assigned four sectors of the beach; Easy Green, Dog Red, Dog White, and Dog Green. Soldiers of the 29th Infantry Division boarded a large number of attack transports for the D-Day invasion, among them landing craft, landing ship, tank, and landing ship, infantry ships and other vessels such as the SS Empire Javelin, USS Charles Carroll, and USS Buncombe County.[16]: 86
As the ships were traveling to the beach, the heavy seas, combined with the chaos of the fighting caused most of the landing force to be thrown off-course and most of the 116th Infantry missed its landing spots.[16]: 95 Most of the regiment's tank support, launched from too far off-shore, foundered and sank in the channel. The soldiers of the 116th Infantry were the first to hit the beach at 0630, coming under heavy fire from German fortifications. Company A, from the Virginia National Guard in Bedford, was annihilated by overwhelming fire as it landed on the 116th's westernmost section of the beach, along with half of Company A, B, and C of the 2nd Ranger Battalion and the 5th Rangers Battalion which was landing to the west of the 116th.[16]: 98 The catastrophic losses suffered by this small Virginia community led to it being selected for the site of the National D-Day Memorial. The 1st Infantry Division's forces ran into similar fortifications on the eastern half of the beach, suffering massive casualties coming ashore. By 0830, the landings were called off for lack of space on the beach, as the Americans on Omaha Beach were unable to overcome German fortifications guarding the beach exits.
Lieutenant GeneralOmar Bradley, commanding the American First Army, considered evacuating the survivors and landing the rest of the divisions elsewhere.[15]: 29 [16]: 100 However, by noon, elements of the American forces had been able to organize and advance off the beach, and the landings resumed.[16]: 103 By nightfall, the division headquarters landed on the beach with about 60 percent of the division's total strength and began organizing the push inland. On 7 June, a second wave of 20,000 reinforcements from both the 1st and 29th Divisions was sent ashore. By the end of D-Day, 2,400 men from the two divisions had become casualties on Omaha Beach.[16]: 106–7 Added to casualties at other beaches and air-drops made the total casualties for the Normandy landings 6,500 Americans and 3,000 British and Canadians, lighter numbers than expected.[17]
Memorial of the 29th Infantry Division's embarkation for D-Day in Trebah, United Kingdom.
The entire division had landed in Normandy by 7 June.[14]: 122 By 9 June, Omaha Beach was secure and the division occupied Isigny.[8] On 14 July, the division was reassigned to XIX Corps, part of the First Army, itself part of the 12th Army Group.[14]
Breakout
29th Infantry Division entering St. Lo, France. July 20, 1944
The division cut across the Elle River and advanced slowly toward Saint-Lô, fighting bitterly in the Normandy hedgerow country.[18]: 17 German reserves formed a new defensive front outside the town, and American forces fought a fierce battle with them two miles outside of the town.[15]: 31 German forces used the dense bocage foliage to their advantage, mounting fierce resistance in house-to-house fighting in the ravaged Saint-Lô. By the end of the fight, the Germans were relying on artillery support to hold the town following the depletion of the infantry contingent.[18]: 72–73 The 29th Division, which was already undermanned after heavy casualties on D-Day, was even further depleted in the intense fighting for Saint-Lô. Eventually, the 29th was able to capture the city in a direct assault, supported by airstrikes from P-47 Thunderbolts.[18]: 74–75
Brittany
After taking Saint-Lô, on 18 July, the division joined in the battle for Vire, capturing that strongly held city by 7 August. It continued to face stiff German resistance as it advanced to key positions southeast of Saint-Lô[18]: 105 It was then reassigned to V Corps, and then again to VIII Corps.[14] Turning west, the 29th took part in the assault on Brest which lasted from 25 August until 18 September.[8]
Germany
After a short rest, the division returned to XIX Corps and took part in the Battle of Aachen by moving to defensive positions along the Teveren-Geilenkirchen line supporting the 30th Infantry Division in Germany and maintained those positions through October.[8] On 16 November, the division began its drive to the Roer River, blasting its way through Siersdorf, Setterich, Durboslar, and Bettendorf, and reaching the Roer by the end of the month.[8] Heavy fighting reduced in Jülich Sportplatz and the Hasenfeld Gut on 8 December. The Division did not take part in the Battle of the Bulge as they were held in reserve for equipment refitting and received replacements of fresh troops arriving from England and France after training for weeks.[8]
29th Infantry Division Soldiers in Jülich, Germany, 24 February 1945.
From 8 December 1944 to 23 February 1945, the division was assigned to XIII Corps and held defensive positions along the Rur and prepared for the next major offensive, Operation Grenade. The division was reassigned to XIX Corps,[14] and the attack jumped off across the Rur on 23 February and carried the division through Jülich, Broich, Immerath, and Titz, to Mönchengladbach by 1 March 1945.[8] The division was out of combat in March. In early April the division was reassigned to XVI Corps, where the 116th Infantry helped mop up in the Ruhr Pocket.[14] On 19 April 1945 the division, assigned to XIII Corps, pushed to the Elbe River and held defensive positions until 4 May and also made contact with Soviet troops.[8] Meanwhile, the 175th Infantry cleared the Klotze Forest. After V-E Day, the division was on military occupation duty in the Bremen enclave.[8] It was assigned to XVI Corps again for this assignment.[14]
From July 1943, the 29th Infantry Division was commanded by Major General Charles H. Gerhardt. The division suffered the second-most battle casualties of any American division in the European Theater (after the 4th Infantry Division's 22,660), and it was said that Gerhardt actually commanded three divisions: one on the field of battle, one in the hospital, and one in the cemetery. The 29th Infantry Division lost 3,887 men killed in action, 15,541 wounded in action (899 of whom died of their wounds), 347 missing in action (315 of whom were returned to military control alive), 845 prisoners of war (six of whom died in captivity), in addition to 8,665 non-combat casualties, during 242 days of combat. This amounted to over 200 percent of the division's normal strength. The division, in turn, took 38,912 German prisoners of war.
The division remained on occupation duty until the end of 1945. Camp Grohn near Bremen was the division headquarters until January 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]: 321
Reactivation
On 23 October 1946, the division was reactivated in Norfolk, Virginia.[6]: 320 However, its subordinate elements were not fully manned and activated for several years. It resumed its National Guard status, seeing weekend and summer training assignments but no major contingencies over the next few years.[10]
In 1959, the division was reorganized under the Pentomic five battle group division organization. Ewing's 29th Infantry Division: A Short History of a Fighting Division says that several Maryland infantry and engineer companies were reorganized to form 1st Med Tank Bn, 115th Armor; the 29th Aviation Company was established; and the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, 183rd Armor, was established in Virginia as the division's reconnaissance squadron.[20]
In 1963, the division was reorganized in accordance with the Reorganization Objective Army Divisions plan, eliminating its regimental commands in favor of brigades. The division took command of the 1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division and 2nd Brigade, 29th Infantry Division of the Virginia Army National Guard,[6]: 322 as well as the 3rd Brigade, 29th Infantry Division of the Maryland Army National Guard.[6]: 323 The division continued its service in the National Guard under this new organization.[10]
In 1968, in the middle of the Vietnam War, the Army inactivated several National Guard and Reserve divisions as part of a realignment of resources. The 29th Infantry Division was one of the divisions inactivated. During that time, the division's subordinate units were reassigned to other National Guard divisions. 1st Brigade was inactivated, while 2nd Brigade was redesignated as the 116th Infantry Brigade, and the 3rd Brigade was redesignated as 3rd Brigade, 28th Infantry Division.[13]: 193–94
On 6 June 1984, 40 years after the landings on Omaha Beach, the Army announced that it would reactivate the 29th Infantry Division, organized as a light infantry division, as part of a reorganization of the National Guard.[10] On 30 September 1985, the division was reactivated at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, with units from the Virginia Army National Guard (VAARNG) and Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG).[6]: 320 The 116th Infantry Brigade was redesignated the 1st Brigade, 29th Division, while the 58th Infantry Brigade became the 3rd Brigade.[13]: 194 That year, the division also received its distinctive unit insignia.[7]
Organization 1989
29th Infantry Division (Light) 1989 (click to enlarge)
At the end of the Cold War the division was a joint Virginia Army National Guard (VAARNG) and Maryland Army National Guard (MDARNG) unit. Virginia provided the division's headquarters, the 1st and 2nd Brigade, the Division Artillery (with one MDARNG artillery battalion) and other minor units, while Maryland provided the 3rd Brigade, Aviation Brigade, 29th Infantry Division (with two VAARNG aviation companies), the Division Support Command (with one VAARNG aviation company) and other minor units.[21] The division was organized as follows:
A 2005 oil painting depicting soldiers from the 2–124th participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq29th Infantry Division soldiers conduct a large-scale exercise at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo in May 200929th Infantry Division sergeant in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force in 2011
At the end of the Cold War, the U.S. Army saw further drawdowns and reductions in spending. The 29th Infantry Division was retained, however 2nd Brigade was inactivated in favor of assets from the inactivating 26th Infantry Division, which was redesignated the 26th Brigade, 29th Infantry Division.[13]: 194
The largest National Guard training exercise ever held in Virginia took place in July 1998, bringing units from the 29th Infantry Division together for one large infantry exercise. The Division Maneuver Exercise, dubbed Operation Chindit, brought together Guard units from Virginia and Maryland, as well as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Connecticut and the District of Columbia. The exercise began with the insertion of troops from the 29th Infantry Division's 1st and 3rd Brigades by UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters into strategic landing zones. NATO-member forces trained with the 29th Infantry Division throughout the exercise.[10] In December 2008, the division also dispatched a task force to Camp Asaka near Tokyo, Japan for exercises with the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force called Yama Sakura 55, a bilateral exercise simulating an invasion of Japan.[36][37]
Present day
In March 1994, during a time of post-Cold War reductions in the size of the Regular Army, the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment was tasked to test a new concept. The Regiment's task was to organize, train, certify, and deploy a multi-component battalion-sized task force made up of National Guard, Army Reserve and Regular Army Soldiers to serve as the US Army's rotational Infantry Battalion for the Multi-National Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The Soldiers selected for the unit reported to Fort Bragg in North Carolina in July 1994 to begin their training for the mission.
The task force was designated as the 4th Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and carried the lineage of Company D, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which had served throughout World War II and into the 1950s. Also known as Task Force 4-505 or "The Sinai Battalion," it was formally activated on 4 November 1994. The battalion was made up of 88% National Guardsmen and Army Reservists from 32 different states, and 12% Regular Army Soldiers, most from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. Virginia and Maryland Army National Guardsmen from the 29th Infantry Division (Light) provided the largest contingent for the battalion. All of the National Guard and Army Reserve Soldiers volunteered for a year of active duty in order to serve in the unit. After completing six months of peacekeeping training at Fort Bragg, the 4th Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment deployed to the Sinai from January through June 1995, then redeployed to Fort Bragg. On 15 July 1995, the 4th Battalion was inactivated at Fort Bragg, and its soldiers returned to their parent units.
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. In all, 2,085 National Guard soldiers from 16 states from Massachusetts to California served with the multinational force that operated in the US sector, MND-N. Their rotation began in October 2001 and lasted six months.[10]
The 29th Infantry Division completed a two-week warfighter exercise at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas in late July 2003. Nearly 1,200 soldiers of the division participated in the training, which was overseen by First United States Army. Also engaged in the simulation war was about 150 soldiers of the New York Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division. The exercises covered a variety of operations, ranging from large-scale contingencies to airborne and civil affairs operations.[10]
In March 2004, the 3rd Battalion 116th Infantry of 500+ soldiers was mobilized for 579 days in support of Operation Enduring Freedom – Afghanistan. Following a 4-month train up, the battalion deployed to Bagram Air Base Afghanistan where the unit split into two operational elements. One element was stationed at Bagram where they were responsible for near-base security and the theater-north Quick Reaction Force. They executed 5, 10, and 20-kilometer ring patrols to increase force security and stayed ready to react at a moment's notice to deploy anywhere in Afghanistan to react to "troops in contact" that requested support. The other element moved south with the Bn Commander to control and shape operations in the Wardak and Ghazni provinces. It was here that the 116th would take its first casualties by enemy contact since World War II. SGT Bobby Beasley and SSG Craig Cherry were killed in an IED attack on a patrol in southern Ghazni near Gilan. Within the first three months, the unit would deploy nearly every soldier around Bagram, and throughout the Wardak and Ghazni provinces during the first Afghan elections in which President Hamid Karzai was elected. The unit would be redeployed back to the United States in July 2005 highly decorated for its efforts during its mission following hundreds of successful combat patrols and engagements.
In 2005, 350 veterans, politicians, and soldiers representing the division went to Normandy and Paris, in France for the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings. The Army National Guard organized a major ceremony for the 60th anniversary, as many of the veterans who participated in the invasion were in their 80s at that time, and the 60th anniversary was seen as the last major anniversary of the landings in which a large number of veterans could take part.[38]
In December 2006, the division took command of the Eastern region of Kosovo's peacekeeping force, to provide security in the region. The division's soldiers were part of a NATO multi-national task force consisting of units from Ukraine, Greece, Poland, Romania, Armenia and Lithuania under the command of U.S. Army Brigadier General Douglas B. Earhart who concurrently served as the 29th's Deputy Commanding General. The division returned to Fort Belvoir in November 2007.
Approximately 72 Virginia and Maryland National Guard soldiers with the 29th ID were deployed to Afghanistan from December 2010 to October 2011. As part of the 29th ID Security Partnering Team, the Soldiers were assigned to NATO's International Security Assistance Force Joint Command Security Partnering Team with the mission of assisting with the growth and development of the Afghan National Security Forces where they served as advisers and mentors to senior Afghan leaders. They were part of a NATO Coalition of 49 troop-contributing nations that Security Partnering personnel interacted with daily across Afghanistan.[40][41][42]
They were replaced in November 2011 by a new team from the 29th Infantry Division. A team of 65 29th ID soldiers served in Afghanistan as a Security Partnering Team until July 2012.[43][44][45]
The 29th ID suffered one casualty during this deployment. Maj. Robert Marchanti of the Maryland Army National Guard was killed on 25 February 2012.[46][47]
In 2014 the 29th ID twice sent soldiers to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany to assist in the training of U.S. and multinational soldiers preparing to head to Kosovo as part of the Kosovo Force[48] mission. The 29th ID soldiers performed as the KFOR staff, serving as subject matter experts, enforcing KFOR orders, systems and procedures, and working with JMRC to help the deploying troops achieve their training objectives.[49][50]
The 29th ID currently serves as the Domestic All-Hazards Response Team (DART) in FEMA Regions 1 through 5 (states east of the Mississippi). In this role, the 29th ID is prepared to assist the state National Guard in their service to governors and citizens during an incident response.[51] The DART provides defense support of civil authority capabilities in response to a catastrophic event. The DART conducts joint reception, staging, onward movement and Integration of inbound OPCON forces and establishes base support installations and /or forward operating bases for sustaining operations.[52]
On 24 July 2015, Brig. Gen. Blake C. Ortner took command of the 29th Infantry Division from Maj. Gen. Charles W. Whittington.[53]
On 19 December 2016, the 29th Infantry Division assumed command of U.S. Army Central's intermediate division headquarters, Task Force Spartan, at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. This deployment includes 450 Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina Army National Guard soldiers and is the first time the 29th Infantry Division has been a part of the Third Army since 1944, during WWII.[54]
More than 80 members of the 29th deployed to Jordan in August 2016 where they assumed command of the military's joint operations center there to support Operation Inherent Resolve.[2] Soldiers of the 29th led engagements and joint training with the Jordan Armed Forces and allied countries before returning in July 2017.[3]
On 5 May 2018, Brig. Gen. John M. Epperly took command of the 29th Infantry Division from Maj. Gen. Blake C. Ortner.[55] On 3 October 2020, Epperly was succeeded by Maj. Gen. John M. Rhodes.[56]
Organization
Structure 29th Infantry Division
The 29th Infantry Division exercises training and readiness oversight of the following units,[57] which are not organic: there is a division headquarters battalion, three infantry brigade combat teams, a division artillery, a combat aviation brigade, a sustainment brigade, and a field artillery brigade.
29th Infantry Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion[10]
Headquarters and Support Company, Fort Belvoir, Virginia (VA NG)
Company A (Operations), Fort Belvoir, Virginia (VA NG)
The 29th Infantry Division has been featured numerous times in popular media, particularly for its role on D-Day. The division's actions on Omaha Beach are featured prominently in the 1962 film The Longest Day,[64] as well as in the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan.[65][66] Soldiers of the division are featured in other films and television with smaller roles, such as in the 2009 film Inglourious Basterds and the 2005 film War of the Worlds.[citation needed]
The 29th Infantry Division is also featured in numerous video games related to World War II. The division's advance through Normandy and Europe is featured in the games Close Combat, Company of Heroes and Call of Duty 3, in which the player assumes the role of a soldier of the division.[67]
^Composition of National Guard Divisions and Disposition of Former National Guard Units. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1918. pp. 7–13.
^Clay, Steven E. (2010). U.S. Army Order of Battle, 1919-1941, Volume 1. The Arms: Major Commands and Infantry Organizations, 1919-41. Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press. pp. 222–223. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ abcdMcGrath, John J. (2004). The Brigade: A History: Its Organization and Employment in the US Army. Combat Studies Institute Press. ISBN978-1-4404-4915-4.
^ abcdefghOrder of Battle of the United States Army: World War II European Theater of Operations. Department of the Army. 1945. p. 128. ISBN978-0-16-001967-8.
^Raines, Rebecca Robbins. "Signal Corps"(PDF). US Army Center of Military History. Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 August 2017. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
^"229th Chemical Company". US Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on 29 September 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2020.
^"Military News". Stafford County Sun. 22 January 2009. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014. Retrieved 21 August 2009.
^*Ancell, R. Manning; Miller, Christine (1996). The Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers: The US Armed Forces. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 457. ISBN0-313-29546-8. OCLC231681728.
^Hobie (17 July 2016). "MAJ Thomas Dry Howie". 116th Infantry Regiment Roll of Honor. Archived from the original on 6 January 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
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