The 148th Infantry Regiment is an Ohio Army National Guard parent regiment under the U.S. Army Regimental System, with headquarters at Walbridge, Ohio. It currently consists of the 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, an infantry battalion of the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team located throughout northwest Ohio.
With history that predates the American Civil War in 1846, the light infantry regiment was officially organized 14 September 1877 in the Ohio Army National Guard from previously established units in Northwestern Ohio as the 16th Infantry Regiment. It exists today under its current naming convention since 15 September 1917 with the redesignation of the 3rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, as part of the 74th Brigade, 37th Infantry Division.
Mission The 1-148th Infantry Battalion of the Ohio Army National Guard has the federal mission to close with the enemy by means of fire and maneuver in order to destroy or capture them or repel their assault by fire, close combat, and counterattack. The state mission of the battalion is to provide units trained and equipped for immediate deployment in support of natural disasters and civil disturbances within the state of Ohio and as an aid to civil authorities for domestic disaster preparedness and emergency response, and aid to civil authorities.
Organization The 1st Battalion, 148th Infantry Regiment, Ohio Army National Guard, is part of the 37th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Columbus, Ohio. The 1-148th Infantry Battalion is currently composed of five assigned and one attached unit: {|class="wikitable" |- ! Company !! Headquarters |- | Headquarters and Headquarters Company (HHC) || Walbridge, Ohio |- | Company A (Light Infantry) || Walbridge, Ohio |- | Company B (Light Infantry) || Bowling Green, Ohio |- | Company C (Light Infantry) || Tiffin, Ohio |- | Company D (Light Infantry) || Sandusky, Ohio |- | Company G (Attached from 237th Brigade Support Battalion) || Lima, Ohio
Historical companies: Company E fought the Japanese in Paco District during the Battle of Manila in February 1945. Company F as the predecessor to Company B, in March 1944, earned the Presidential Unit Citation during the Battle of Hill 700 on Bougainville Island. Company H Tank Corps, organized in 1920 in Port Clinton, OH and subsequently dissolved into the remaining companies. Company I through M World War I organizations.
Most soldiers are on traditional reserve status who serve in the military on a part-time basis while leaving civilian occupations to participate one weekend a month as well as two weeks of annual training each year, or more as directed by the state with several full-time staff per company. The 148th Infantry Regiment has been activated, redesignated, deactivated, and reactivated many times. Each of the units that made up the 148th Infantry have made tremendous sacrifices to their nation and left a record of distinguished achievements.
History
The 148th Infantry Regiment participated in military actions including: Mexican-American War, American Civil War, Spanish–American War. World War I and World War II. The 148th Infantry Regiment received the Presidential Unit Citation (Army), Meritorious Unit Citation with Oak Leak Cluster, Philippine Presidential Unit Citation for 1942 & 1945 campaigns, and Army Superior Service Award, and cited in the Order of the Day of the Belgian Army. The 148th Infantry received the Joint Services Meritorious Unit Award for its participation in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Detail. Seven individuals in the 148th have distinguished themselves with the Medal of Honor to include Albert E. Baesel, Rodger Young, John N. Reese Jr., Cleto Rodriguez, Robert M. Viale, Joseph J. Cicchetti, and Frank J. Petrarca.
Mexican-American War 1846 The 148th Infantry Regiment was designated in June 1846 at Camp Washington, OH, as the 2nd Ohio Infantry Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry for the Mexican-American War.
Battle of Buena Vista - Mexican-American War 1847 The 148th Infantry Regiment displays a campaign streamer for Buena Vista on its organizational colors as a descendant of the 2nd Ohio Infantry Regiment.
American Civil War 1861
The years of the American Civil War brought several antecedents of the 148th Infantry Regiment, namely the 2nd Ohio Infantry Regiment and the 6th Ohio Infantry Regiment. The 16th Infantry Regiment was formed in the area of Ohio now being served by the 148th Infantry.
Battle of Antietam - American Civil War 1862 At Antietam, near Sharpsburg, Md., Union troops under Maj. Gen. George McClellan fought Gen. Robert E. Lee's invading army to a standstill. Ohio contributed 11 infantry regiments, two batteries of artillery and an independent cavalry company to the battle. Today, the 148th Infantry Regiment (4th Ohio), 174th Air Defense Artillery Regiment (5th Ohio), 107th Cavalry Regiment (7th Ohio) and 145th Armored Regiment (7th Ohio) display the Antietam campaign streamer on their colors.
Spanish-American War 1898 The 16th Ohio Regiment was ordered back on active duty as the 6th Ohio and moving once again to the deep South and within a year was moving by foot, rail and ship to Cienfuegos, Cuba and Trinidad. In the years following, men from the 2nd and 6th Ohio Regiments served in the Philippine insurrection and the Boxer uprising.
Great Dayton Flood 1913 The 148th Infantry Regiment was activated for peacetime service to Dayton, OH during the catastrophic Great Dayton Flood of 1913.
Battle of Columbus, New Mexico 1916 The year 1916 brought Pancho Villa's raid on Columbus, New Mexico. On 14 July 1916, the 3rd Infantry, Ohio National Guard, direct predecessor of the 148th Infantry, was mustered into federal service and rushed to duty on the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas. There, the Guardsmen received the training which was soon to be put to its most severe test to date. Several units were never mustered out of service from border duty but were sent directly to camps for additional training. It was on 15 September 1917 that the 3rd Ohio was redesignated the 148th Infantry, 74th Brigade, 37th Infantry Division.
1917 and World War I During World War I, in the front lines at Baccarat and the Pannes, in the Meuse-Argonne and Ypres-Lys offenses at Recicourt and Avocourt, men of the 148th fought in the three strenuous months which were to bring victory to the allied troops. It was the Ypres-Lys campaign that saw the crowning achievement of the 148th. There the regiment, first of all the allied troops, crossed the Scheldt River in Belgium on 2 November 1918 and maintained the crossing in spite of heavy losses from devastating machine gun and shell fire. It was there, too, that the regimental motto, "We'll do it," was inspired.
Among the more distinguished members of the 148th was Private Wilk Gunckle, Company M, 148th Infantry, recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross for his extraordinary heroism near Heurne, Belgium on 3 November 1918. According to the postwar attestation by the Adjutant-General, "He volunteered and guided ammunition carriers to advanced positions, despite the fact that he was seriously wounded in the face, which made it necessary to hold a bandage in place during the journey to and from the front. After receiving treatment at the first-aid station he returned to his duties."Office of the Adjutant General of the Army, Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, and the Distinguished Service Medal Issued by the War Department Since April 6, 1917 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1920), p. 563.
With the signing of the Armistice, the 148th stayed on in Europe for several months before it returned to the United States and was demobilized. 1 July 1921 the 148th Infantry was reorganized as such. It was on 27 September 1923 that the 148th Infantry regimental insignia was approved – the first in the United States to receive official War Department sanction.
The crest has seventeen (17) silver arrows, banded by a sprig of buckeye on a wreath of blue and gold, which are the regimental colors. The seventeen arrows signify Ohio, which was the seventeenth state to be admitted to the Union. The shield is azure, for infantry, divided by a red fess, bordered by two gold bands with two fleurs-de-lis representing the offensive and defensive actions in which the regiment participated in France. The lion represents Belgium, where the regiment engaged in the Ypres-Lys offensive. The red fess, wavy and bordered by the two gold bands, represents the Scheldt River which, of all the allied troops, was crossed first by the 148th Infantry on 2 November 1918. The regimental motto, "We'll Do It," inscribed below the shield was inspired during this crossing and became a battle cry that inspired the members of this regiment to rise above the normal call of duty and to go on to soundly defeat an enemy of superior numbers and to bring about a great victory for the allies.
The 148th Infantry arrived at the port of New York on 23 March 1919 on the troopship SS Noordam and was demobilized 19 April 1919 at Camp Sherman, Ohio. Per the National Defense Act of 1920
Reconstitution and Stateside Missions 1921-1939 The 148th Infantry was reconstituted in the National Guard in 1921, assigned to the 37th Division, and allotted to the state of Ohio. It was reorganized 1 July 1921 by redesignation of the 2nd Infantry, Ohio National Guard (organized 1919–21; headquarters organized 23 March 1921 and federally recognized at Toledo, Ohio) as the 148th Infantry. During a F4 tornado in 1924, the 148th Infantry was dispatched to Lorain, OH and Sandusky, OH within nine hours to help with rescue work, caring for the injured, guarding property and protecting against vandalism. The regimental headquarters relocated successively as follows: to Canton, Ohio, in 1926; to Toledo, in January 1929, to Columbus, Ohio, 1 December 1937. The regiment, or elements thereof, called up to perform the following state duties: riot control during a coal miners’ strike at Cadiz, Ohio, 20 July–17 August 1932; riot control during a workers’ strike at the Auto-Lite plant at Toledo, 23 May–2 June 1934; flood relief along the Ohio River, January–March 1937; riot control during a workers’ strike at the Mahoning Valley steel plants, 22 June–15 July 1937. Conducted annual summer training most years at Camp Perry, Ohio, 1921–39.
World War II 15 October 1940 found the 148th Infantry, as part of the 37th Division, back in active federal service and training in the deep South at Camp Shelby. Shortly after its arrival at its training station, the 148th received a large number of selective service personnel and started a long training program designed to make it one of the finest fighting units in the U.S. Army. After 16 months of rigorous training, the unit moved to Indiantown Gap and finished off its pre-embarkation training designed for European service. With the Japanese sweeping to seemingly easy victories against undermanned Pacific defenses, the 37th was rushed to the Islands to set up a series of island defenses designed to stop the advances and island hopping of the Japanese. The 148th landed at Suva, Fiji Islands, in early June 1942 and immediately set up a long coastal defense on the western part of Viti Levu. This program, coupled with vigorous jungle training, fitted the 148th for its baptism of fire on New Georgia. July 1943 found the 148th under command of Col. Stuart A. Baxter fighting the best Japanese had to offer in the battle for Munda airstrip. It took only one campaign and the veterans of the 148th could be proud of this new fighting unit. Lt. Col. Delbert Schultz took the 3rd Battalion on a special mission with a Marine raider force and hit the Japanese at Bairoko Harbor and fought their way through some of the toughest terrain in the Solomon Islands to tie up with the remainder of the 148th in the final push for the airstrip.