Shoulder sleeve patch of the United States Army 7th Infantry Division (Light). The 7th Infantry Division (Light) —nicknamed Bayonets— is a reserve combat division of the United States Army currently made up of National Guard units. It has its base of operations at Fort Carson, Colorado.
History
The US 7th Infantry Division was created at Camp Wheeler, Georgia on 6 December 1917 and served in Alsace-Lorraine France in World War I. The division served as occupation forces in the post-war period. The division was deactivated in 1923.
The division was reactivated just prior to the US entry into World War II and was used for construction and training activities during the early part of the war. In 1943 the division was retrained in amphibious warfare and participated in the liberation of the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska.
On 31 January 1944 the Division landed on islands in the Kwajalein Atoll in conjunction with the 4th Marine Division, and in a week of heavy fighting, wrested them from the Japanese. Elements took part in the capture of Engebi in the Eniwetok Atoll, 18 February 1944. The Division then moved to Oahu, T. H., remaining there until mid-September when it sailed to join the assault on the Philippines. On 20 October 1944, the Division made an assault landing at Dulag, Leyte, and after heavy fighting secured airstrips at Dulag, San Pablo, and Buri. The troops moved north to take Dagami, 29 October, and then shifted to the west coast of Leyte, 26 November, and attacked north toward Ormoc, securing Valencia, 25 December. An amphibious landing by the 77th Infantry Division effected the capture of Ormoc, 11 December 1944, and the 7th joined in its occupation. Mopping up operations continued until early February 1945. Next D-day for the Division was 1 April 1945, when it made an assault landing on Okinawa. It drove from the west to the east coast on the first day and engaged in a savage 51-day battle in the hills of southern Okinawa. The division accepted the surrender of the South Korea. After the war the division served as occupation forces in Korea and Japan.
The 7th Division was stationed in Japan at the outbreak of the Korean War and participated in the Inchon Landing and was at the Yalu River when the Chinese entered the war. The 7th participated in such battles as the Heartbreak Triangle, Battle of Porkchop Hill, and the Battle of Old Baldy.
In 1971 the division was deactivated for three years. Upon reactivation it was assigned to Fort Ord, California.
The 7th participated in Operation Golden Pheasant in Honduras in 1988 and Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989 before being deactivated once again in 1994.
The 7th Infantry Division was reactivated on 4 June 1999, at Fort Carson, Colorado, as the first Active Component/Reserve Component division. The Reserve units that make up the 7th Infantry Division are the 39th Enhanced Separate Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard, the 41st Enhanced Separate Brigade of the Oregon National Guard and the 45th Enhanced Separate Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard. Fort Carson is the headquarters for the Division.
One of the division's brigades, the 39th Enhanced Separate Brigade of the Arkansas National Guard, was activated for occupation duty in Iraq during the fall of 2003.
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