With the
American entry into World War I, in April 1917, troops of the National Guard were formed into the units which exist today, with elements of the
Colorado National Guard forming the
157th Infantry Regiment, the
Arizona National Guard forming the
158th Infantry Regiment, and the
New Mexico National Guard forming the
120th Engineer Regiment. These units were assigned to the
40th Division, and deployed to
France where the division was used as a "depot" unit to process and provide replacements for front-line units. They returned home at the end of the war, which occurred on
Armistice with Germany. The
Oklahoma National Guard units that would later become the
179th Infantry Regiment and
180th Infantry Regiment were assigned to the
36th Division and would earn a combat participation credit during the
Meuse–Argonne offensive in France as part of the
142nd Infantry.
Inter-war years On 19 October 1920, units of the Oklahoma National Guard were organized as part of the 45th Infantry Division, also manned with troops from
Arizona,
Colorado, and
New Mexico. The division headquarters was federally recognized on 3 August 1923 in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It was assigned the 89th Infantry Brigade of the Colorado and Arizona National Guards, and the 90th Infantry Brigade of the Oklahoma National Guard. As a consequence of these militia roots, when the division was properly organized, many of its members were marksmen and outdoorsmen from the remote frontier regions of the Southwestern United States. The division's first commander was
Major General Baird H. Markham. The designated mobilization training center for the 45th Division was
Fort Sill, Oklahoma. From 1922 to 1936, the division’s subordinate units generally held separate summer camps at locations within their respective states: Fort Sill for Oklahoma units;
Fort Tuthill, near
Flagstaff, for Arizona units; Camp Maximilliano Luna in
San Miguel County for New Mexico units; and Camp George West near
Golden, Colorado, for Colorado units. For at least 3 years, in 1927, 1932, and 1933, the division’s subordinate units trained over 250 company-grade officers of the
95th and
103rd Divisions at the various state encampment locations. In 1936, the division and brigade staffs participated in the Third Army
command post exercise at
Fort Sam Houston and
Camp Bullis, Texas, which was designed to prepare them for the large-scale army maneuvers to be held the summer of 1938. For participation in the Eighth Corps Area concentration of the Third Army Maneuvers in August 1938, the division was split between Camp Bullis (Oklahoma elements), Fort Bliss, Texas (New Mexico and Colorado elements), and
Fort Huachuca, Arizona (Arizona elements). During the maneuver at Fort Bliss, the 45th Division (-) operated as part of the provisional Brown Corps with the
2nd Division against the
36th Division and the 56th Cavalry Brigade of the Blue Corps. , a tribute to the large Native American population in the southwestern United States.|alt=A red diamond with a yellow swastika inside itThe 45th Infantry Division engaged in regular drills but no major events in its first few years, though the division's Colorado elements were called in to help quell a large coal mining strike. The onset of the
Great Depression in the 1930s severely curtailed its funding for training and equipment. Major General Roy Hoffman took command in 1931, followed by Alexander M. Tuthill in 1933, Alexander E. McPherren in 1935, and
William S. Key in 1936. featured a
swastika, a common Native American symbol, as a tribute to the Southwestern United States region which had a large population of Native Americans. However, with the rise of the
Nazi Party in
Germany, with its infamous swastika symbol, the 45th Division stopped using the insignia. After a long process of reviewing design submissions, a design by
Woody Big Bow, a
Kiowa artist from
Carnegie, Oklahoma, was chosen for the new shoulder sleeve insignia. The new insignia featured the
Thunderbird, another Native American symbol, and was approved in 1939. In 1940, approximately 2,000 of the division's 9,500 troops were Native Americans, representing fifty tribes. During the interwar period, several units were composed predominantly or entirely of Native American personnel at various points, including Companies D and F, 158th Infantry, and Company L, 180th Infantry. In August 1940, the 45th Division again participated in the Third Army maneuvers, this time near the
Kisatchie National Forest in
Louisiana as part of the provisional VIII Corps. This was the first opportunity for all division elements to assemble and operate together since its organization.
Mobilization On 16 September 1940, the 45th Infantry Division was
federalized by President Roosevelt. Its men immediately began
basic combat training at Fort Sill. It was intended that the division remain at Fort Sill only temporarily, with a new site for the division being chosen near
Abilene, Texas, named
Camp Barkeley. The division relocated to Camp Barkeley at the end of February 1941. In August 1941, the 45th Infantry Division took part in the
Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest peacetime exercises in U.S. military history. Still operating with outmoded equipment from World War I, the division did not perform well during these exercises, and was criticized by officers who considered it "feeble."
World War II File:45th Infantry Division Sicily campaign.jpg|Sicily File:45th Infantry Division campaign Naples.jpg|Naples-Foggia File:45th Infantry Division Rome campaign.jpg|Rome-Arno File:45th Infantry Division Southern France campaign.jpg|Southern France File:45th Infantry Division Rhineland campaign.jpg|Rhineland File:45th Infantry Division campaign Central Europe.jpg|Central Europe Throughout 1942, it continued training at Camp Barkeley before moving to
Fort Devens,
Massachusetts, to undergo
amphibious assault training in preparation for an invasion of
Italy. The division, now commanded by Major General
Troy H. Middleton, a
Regular Army soldier and highly distinguished World War I veteran, moved to the
Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation's
Camp Patrick Henry to await combat loading on the transports. The division's two combat commands, the
89th and
90th Infantry Brigades, were inactivated in 1942, as the Army favored smaller and more versatile regimental and battalion-level commands for the new conflict. Also assigned to the division were the
158th,
160th,
171st, and
189th Field Artillery Battalions, the 45th Signal Company, the
700th Ordnance Company, the 45th Quartermaster Company, the 45th Reconnaissance Troop, the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion, and the 120th Medical Battalion. in preparation for the
invasion of Sicily. Allied intelligence estimated that the island was defended by approximately 230,000 troops, the majority of which were drawn mostly from weak Italian formations and two German divisions which had been reconstituted after being destroyed earlier. Against this, the Allies planned to land 180,000 troops, including the 45th Infantry Division, which was assigned to
Lieutenant General Omar Bradley's
II Corps, part of the
U.S. Seventh Army under Lieutenant General
George S. Patton, for the operation. The division was subsequently assigned a lead role in the
amphibious assault on
Sicily, coming ashore on 10 July. Landing near
Scoglitti, the southernmost U.S. objective on the island, the division advanced north on the U.S. force's eastern flank. After initially encountering resistance from armor of the
Hermann Goering Division, the division advanced, supported by
paratroopers of the
505th Parachute Regimental Combat Team, part of the
82nd Airborne Division, who landed inland on 11 July. The paratroopers, conducting their first combat jump of the war after six weeks of training in
Tunisia, then set up to protect the 45th's flank against German counterattack, but without weapons to counter heavy armor, the paratroopers had to rely on support from the
2nd Armored Division to repulse the German
Tiger I tanks. For most of the first two weeks while the division moved slowly north, it encountered only light resistance from Italian forces fighting delaying actions. Italian and German forces resisted fiercely at Motta Hill on 26 July, however, and for four days the 45th Division was held up there. After this, the division was allocated to drive towards
Messina, being ordered by the Seventh Army commander to cover the distance as quickly as possible. The 45th Division spent a few days in that city, but on 1 August, the division was withdrawn from the front line for rest and rear-guard patrol duty,
Salerno On 3 September 1943,
Italy surrendered to the Allied powers. Hoping to occupy as much of the country as possible before the
German Army could react, the U.S. Fifth Army prepared to
attack Salerno. On 10 September, elements of the division conducted its second landing at Agropoli and Paestum with the
36th Infantry Division, on the southernmost beaches of the attack. The Fifth Army was battered and pushed back by German forces until 20 September, when Allied forces were finally able to break out and establish a more secure
beachhead. On 3 November it crossed the
Volturno River and took
Venafro. Until 9 January 1944, the division, now under Major General
William W. Eagles (replacing Major General Middleton who struck down with
arthritis, was sent to
England to command
VIII Corps in the
Normandy invasion), inched forward into the mountains reaching St. Elia, north of
Monte Cassino, before moving to a rest area. For this mission, CCA (
Combat Command A) of the
1st Armored Division was attached to the 45th Infantry Division. Landing on schedule, VI Corps surprised the Germans, but Major General Lucas's decision to consolidate the beachhead instead of attacking gave the Germans time to bring the
LXXVI Panzer Corps forward to oppose the landings. One regiment of the 45th (the
179th Infantry) went ashore with the landings. In company with the
British 1st Infantry Division, they advanced north along the Anzio-Albano road and captured the Aprilia "factory", but encountered ingrained resistance from German armored units a few miles further on. Lucas then ordered the rest of the division ashore. The 45th Division was deployed on the southeastern side of the beachhead, along
the lower Mussolini Canal. On 30 January 1944, when VI Corps advanced from the beaches, it encountered heavy resistance and took heavy casualties. VI Corps was stopped at the "Pimlott Line" (the perimeter of the beachhead), and the fight became a
battle of attrition. ,
Texas, commemorating the 45th Infantry Division's time in Texas as it trained at
Camp Barkeley in 1940 The first major German counterattack came in early February and was against the British 1st Division. Two regiments of the 45th (the 179th and
157th Infantry) were sent to the Aprilia sector to reinforce the British. The 179th Infantry and a tank battalion of CCA tried to recapture Aprilia but were repulsed. Lucas then moved the rest of the 45th Division to the left-center of the perimeter, at Aprilia and along the west branch of the Mussolini Canal. On 4 June the 45th Division crossed the
Tiber River below
Rome, and entered the city along with other VI Corps troops. Men of the 45th Division were the first Allied troops to reach
the Vatican. On 16 June, the 45th Division withdrew for rest in preparation for other operations. The 45th, 36th, and
3rd Infantry Divisions were pulled from the line in Italy in preparation for
Operation Dragoon (formerly
Anvil), the invasion of southern France.
Dragoon was originally planned to coincide with the
Normandy landings in the north, but was delayed until August because of a shortage of landing craft.
France and Germany The 45th Infantry Division participated in its fourth amphibious assault landing during
Operation Dragoon on 15 August 1944, at
St. Maxime, in
Southern France. The
German Army, reeling from the
Battle of Normandy, in which it had suffered a major defeat, pulled back after a short fight, part of an overall German withdrawal to the east following the landings. Soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division engaged the dispersed forces of German
Army Group G, suffering very few casualties. After the crossing was complete, the division was relieved from V Corps and assigned to Major General
Wade H. Haislip's
XV Corps. The 45th Infantry Division, now commanded by Major General
Robert T. Frederick, who had previously commanded the 1st Special Service Force, was reassigned to VI Corps on
New Year's Day. During the next month, the division remained in Munich and set up collection points and camps for the massive numbers of surrendering troops of the German armies. The number of POWs taken by the 45th Division during its almost two years of fighting totalled 124,840 men.
Allegations of war crimes During and after the war,
courts-martial were convened to investigate possible
war crimes by members of the division. In the first two cases, dubbed the
Biscari massacre, occurred on 14 July 1943, American troops from C Company, 180th Infantry Regiment, were alleged to have shot 74 Italian and two German prisoners in
Acate following the capture of an airfield in the area.
George Patton, the
Seventh Army commanding general, asked
Omar Bradley,
II Corps commanding general, to get the cases dismissed to prevent bad press, but Bradley refused. A non-commissioned officer, Sergeant Horace T. West, 33 years old, later confessed to the crimes in the first incident and was found guilty. On the second incident, Captain John T. Compton ordered Italian soldiers to be lined up and shot; the officer claimed he had only been following orders and was acquitted. , allegedly killed in the
Dachau massacre in 1945 In a third incident, the Army considered court-martialling several officers of the 157th Infantry Regiment under
Lieutenant Colonel Felix L. Sparks after servicemen were accused of massacring German soldiers who were surrendering at the Dachau
concentration camp in 1945. Some of the German troops were camp guards; the others were sick and wounded troops from a nearby hospital. The soldiers of the 45th Division who liberated the camp were outraged at the malnourishment and maltreatment of the 32,000 prisoners they liberated, some barely alive, and all victims of the
Holocaust. After entering the camp, the soldiers found boxcars filled with dead bodies of prisoners who had succumbed to starvation or last-minute executions, and in rooms adjacent to
gas chambers they found naked bodies piled from the floor to the ceiling. The cremation ovens, which were still in operation when the soldiers arrived, contained bodies and skeletons as well. Some of the victims apparently had died only hours before the 45th Division entered the camp, while many others lay where they had died in states of decomposition that overwhelmed the soldiers' senses. Accounts conflict over what happened and over how many German troops were killed. After investigating the incident, the Army considered court-martialling several officers involved, but Patton successfully intervened. The Seventh Army was being disbanded and Patton had been appointed Military Governor of Bavaria, placing the matter in his hands. Some veterans of the 45th Infantry Division have said that only 30 to 50 German soldiers were killed and that very few were killed trying to surrender, while others have admitted to killing or refusing to treat wounded German guards. Confessed murderer
Frank Sheeran later recalled his war service with the 45th as the time when he first developed a callousness to the taking of human life. Sheeran claimed to have participated in numerous massacres and
summary executions of German POWs, acts which violated the
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the
1929 Geneva Convention on POWs. In later interviews with
Charles Brandt, he divided such massacres into four categories: • Revenge killings in the heat of battle. Sheeran told Brandt that, when a German soldier had just killed his close friends and then tried to surrender, he would often "send him to hell, too". He described often witnessing similar behavior by fellow
GIs. • Orders from unit commanders during a mission. When describing his first murder for organized crime, Sheeran recalled: "It was just like when an officer would tell you to take a couple of German prisoners back behind the line and for you to 'hurry back'. You did what you had to do." • The Dachau massacre and other reprisal killings of concentration camp guards and trustee inmates. • Calculated attempts to dehumanize and degrade German POWs. While Sheeran's unit was climbing the Harz Mountains, they came upon a Wehrmacht mule train carrying food and drink up the mountainside. The female cooks were first allowed to leave unmolested, then Sheeran and his fellow GIs "ate what we wanted and soiled the rest with our waste". Then the Wehrmacht mule drivers were given shovels and ordered to "dig their own shallow graves". Sheeran later joked that they did so without complaint, likely hoping that he and his buddies would change their minds. But the mule drivers were shot and buried in the holes they had dug. Sheeran explained that by then, he "had no hesitation in doing what I had to do."
After the war During World War II, the 45th Division fought in 511 days of combat.
Ernest Childers,
Almond E. Fisher,
William J. Johnston,
Salvador J. Lara,
Jack C. Montgomery,
James D. Slaton, and
Edward G. Wilkin. Soldiers of the division also received 61
Distinguished Service Crosses, three
Distinguished Service Medals, 1,848
Silver Star Medals, 38
Legion of Merit medals, 59
Soldier's Medals, 5,744
Bronze Star Medals, and 52
Air Medals. The division received seven
distinguished unit citations and eight
campaign streamers during the conflict. Instead of comprising units from several states, the post-war 45th was an all-Oklahoma organization. During this time the division was also reorganized and as a part of this process the 157th Infantry was removed from the division's order of battle and replaced with the
279th Infantry Regiment. During this time, the U.S. Army underwent a drastic reduction in size. At the end of World War II, it contained 89 divisions, but by 1950, there were just 10 active divisions in the force, along with a few reserve divisions such as the 45th Infantry Division which were combat-ineffective. The division retained many of its best officers as senior commanders as the force downsized, and it enjoyed a good relationship with its community. The 45th in this time was regarded as one of the better-trained National Guard divisions. Regardless, by mid-1950 the division had only 8,413 troops, less than 45 percent of its full-strength authorization. Only 10 percent of the division's officers and five percent of its enlisted men had combat experience with the division from World War II.
Korean War At the outbreak of the
Korean War in June 1950, the U.S. Army looked to expand its force again to prepare for major conflict. After the
North Korean People's Army invaded the
Republic of Korea, four understrength U.S. divisions on occupation duty in Japan were rushed to South Korea to stand alongside the
Republic of Korea Army. These were the
7th Infantry Division, the
1st Cavalry Division, the
24th Infantry Division, and the
25th Infantry Division, which were all under the control of the
Eighth United States Army. Due to drastic reductions in U.S. military spending following the end of World War II, these divisions were equipped with worn-out or obsolete weaponry and suffered from a shortage of anti-armor weapons capable of penetrating the hulls of the
North Korean
T-34 tanks. On 1 September 1950, the 45th Infantry Division was ordered into federal service. It would eventually become the first National Guard division to be deployed to the Far East since World War II.
Reinforcement pool Initially, the division was used to provide a pool of reinforcements for the divisions fighting in Korea; in January 1951 it provided 650 enlisted fillers for overseas service. Later that month, 4,006 new recruits were assigned to its three infantry regiments and artillery assets, with each unit creating a 14-week training program to prepare the new soldiers for combat. Because of heavy casualties and slow reinforcement rates, the Army looked to the National Guard to provide additional units to relieve the beleaguered Eighth Army. At the time, the 45th Infantry Division was comprised overwhelmingly of
high school students or recent graduates, and only about 60 percent of its troops had conducted training and drills with the division for a year or more. Additionally, only about 20 percent of its personnel had prior experience of military service from World War II. Nevertheless, the division was one of four National Guard divisions identified as being among the most prepared for combat based on the effectiveness of its equipment, training, and leadership. As a result, in February 1951, the 45th Infantry Division was alerted that it would sail for Japan. In preparation for the deployment, the division was sent to
Fort Polk,
Louisiana, to begin training and to fill its ranks. The involvement of the National Guard in the fighting in Korea was further expanded when the
40th Infantry Division of the
California Army National Guard received warning orders for deployment as well.
Initial struggles The division did not actually deploy to Korea until December 1951, when its advanced training was complete. By the time it arrived in Korea, only half the division's manpower were National Guard troops. Though the 45th remained
de facto segregated as an all-white unit in 1950, individual unit commanders went to great lengths to integrate reinforcements from different areas and ethnicities into their units. By 1952, it was fully integrated. Following its arrival, the division moved to the front line to replace the 1st Cavalry Division, which was then delegated to the Far East reserve, having suffered over 16,000 casualties in less than 18 months of fighting. Additionally, in an effort to reduce the burden on the National Guard, the term of service for National Guardsmen in Korea was initially set at 21, and later 24 months; over 4,500 Guardsmen left between May and July 1952, continually replaced by more active-duty troops and draftees, including an increasing number of African Americans. In August 1952, Congress approved a law authorizing the organization of "National Guard of the United States" (NGUS) units in states whose National Guard units were in federal service, which would bear the same designations as those on active duty. Before the establishment of the 45th Infantry Division (NGUS) on 15 September 1952, the returning Oklahoma Guardsmen were either separated from the service if their Guard enlistments had expired, or remained in inactive reserve status. As a result of this effort, two 45th Infantry Division units existed between 1952 and 1954; the National Guard 45th Infantry Division in Korea, and the 45th Infantry Division (NGUS) in Oklahoma. By the time the division was in place, the battle lines on both sides had
largely solidified, leaving the 45th Infantry Division in a stationary position as it conducted attacks and counterattacks for the same ground. It was deployed around
Chorwon and assigned to protect the key routes from that area into
Seoul. The terrain was difficult and the weather was poor in the region. The division suffered its first casualty on 11 December 1951. Initially, the division did not fare well, though it improved quickly. It also conducted constant small-unit patrols along the border seeking to engage Chinese outposts or patrols. These small-unit actions made up the majority of the division's combat in Korea. Chinese troops were well dug-in and better trained than the troops of the inexperienced 45th, and it suffered casualties and frequently had to disengage when it was attacked. In the division's first few months on the line, Chinese forces conducted three raids in its sector. In retaliation, the 245th Tank Battalion sent nine tanks to raid Agok. Two
companies of Chinese forces ambushed and devastated a patrol from the 179th Infantry a short time later. Around that time, the 45th Infantry Division relinquished command of Old Baldy Hill to the
2nd Infantry Division. Almost immediately the Chinese launched a concentrated attack on the hill, overrunning the U.S. forces. Heavy rainstorms prevented the divisions from retaking the hill for around a month, and when it was finally retaken it was heavily fortified to prevent further attacks. The 245th Tank Battalion was sent to assault Chinese positions throughout late 1952, but most of the division held a stationary defensive line against the Chinese. The ensuing
Battle of Hill Eerie was one of a series of larger attacks by Chinese and North Korean forces which produced heavier fighting than the previous year had seen. These offensives were conducted largely in order to secure a better position during the ongoing truce negotiations. During the Korean War, the 45th Infantry Division suffered 4,004 casualties, consisting of 834 killed in action and 3,170 wounded in action. One soldier from the division,
Charles George, was awarded the Medal of Honor while serving in Korea.
After Korea , the successor organization to the 45th Infantry Division, hold a ceremony ahead of a deployment to
Operation Enduring Freedom in February 2011. The division briefly patrolled the
Korean Demilitarized Zone following the signing of the armistice ending the war, but most of its men returned home and reverted to National Guard status on 30 April 1954. The division remained as a unit of the Oklahoma National Guard and participated in no major actions throughout the rest of the 1950s save regular weekend and summer training exercises. In 1963, the formation was reorganized in accordance with the
Reorganization Objective Army Divisions plan, which saw the establishment of a 1st, 2nd and 3rd Brigade within the division. These brigades would see no major deployments or events and were inactivated five years later in 1968. That same year, due to the perceived lack of need for so many large formations in the Army National Guard, the 45th Infantry Division was inactivated, as part of a larger move to reduce the number of Army National Guard divisions from 15 to eight, while increasing the number of separate brigades from seven to 18. In its place, the independent
45th Infantry Brigade (Separate) was established. The 45th Infantry Brigade received all of the 45th Division's lineage and heraldry, including its shoulder sleeve insignia. Also activated from division assets were the
45th Field Artillery Group, later redesignated the 45th Fires Brigade, and the
90th Troop Command. ==Honors==