The 45th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army, most associated with the Oklahoma Army National Guard, from 1920 to 1968. Headquartered for most of its history in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the guardsmen fought in both World War II and the Korean War.
The 45th Infantry Division guardsmen saw no major action until they became one of the first National Guard units activated in World War II in 1941. They took part in intense fighting during the invasion of Sicily and the attack on Salerno in the 1943 Italian Campaign. Slowly advancing through Italy, they fought at Anzio until the capture of Rome. After landing in France during Operation Dragoon, they joined the 1945 drive into Germany that ended the War in Europe.
After a brief inactivation and subsequent reorganization as a unit restricted to Oklahomans, the division returned to duty in 1951 for the Korean War. It joined the United Nations troops on the front lines during the stalemate of the second half of the war, with constant, low-level fighting and trench warfare against the People's Volunteer Army of China that produced little gain for either side. The division remained on the front lines in such engagements as Old Baldy Hill and Hill Eerie until the end of the war, returning to the U.S. in 1954.
The division remained a National Guard formation until its downsizing in 1968. Several units were activated to replace the division and carry on its lineage. Over the course of its history, the 45th Infantry Division sustained over 25,000 battle casualties, and its men were awarded ten Medals of Honor, twelve campaign streamers, the Croix de Guerre and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation.
History Formation 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.
Interwar period 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.
The 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. In 1937, the division's troops were once again called up, this time to help manage a locust plague affecting Colorado.
The division's original shoulder sleeve insignia, approved in August 1924, 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.
World War II WWII division organization Square division On 16 September February 1940, the 45th Division was inducted into federal service at home stations. It was one of four National Guard divisions to be inducted into federal service for a one-year period that day. The other divisions were the 30th Division, 41st Division and 44th Division. After being inducted into federal service the 45th Division assembled at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, where it immediately began basic combat training. It was intended that the division remain at Fort Sill only temporarily, with a new site for the division being chosen near Abilene in Texas, named Camp Barkeley. The division relocated to Camp Barkeley at the end of February 1941.
At the time the division still retained its World War I square organization and consisted of the following units.
45th Division, in Oklahoma City (OK)National Guard Register for 1939, pp. 52-53 45th Division Headquarters 89th Infantry Brigade, in Denver (CO) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 157th Infantry Regiment, in Denver (CO) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3× Infantry battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 3× Rifle companies, 1× Weapons Company Anti-Tank Company (M3 37mm Anti-Tank guns) Service Company 158th Infantry Regiment, in Tucson (AZ) same organization as 157th Infantry Regiment 90th Infantry Brigade, in Oklahoma City (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 179th Infantry Regiment, in Pawnee (OK) same organization as 157th Infantry Regiment 180th Infantry Regiment, in Muskogee (OK) same organization as 157th Infantry Regiment 70th Field Artillery Brigade, in Oklahoma City (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 158th Field Artillery Regiment, in Anadarko (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Light Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1897 75mm field guns), replaced by M2 105mm towed howitzers in 1941) Service Battery 158th Field Artillery Regiment, in Tulsa (OK) same organization as 157th Field Artillery Regiment 189th Field Artillery Regiment, in Enid (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 2× Medium Field Artillery battalions Headquarters and Headquarters Battery 3× Howitzer batteries (M1918 155mm towed howitzers, replaced by M1 155mm towed howitzers in 1941) Anti-Tank Battery (M1897 75mm anti-tank guns) Service Battery 120th Engineer Regiment, in Las Cruces (NM) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company 2× Engineer battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Engineer companies 120th Medical Regiment, in Oklahoma City (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters and Service Company Collecting Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Collecting companies Ambulance Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Ambulance companies Clearing Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 3× Clearing companies 120th Quartermaster Regiment, in Oklahoma City (OK) Headquarters and Headquarters Company 2× Truck battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 2× Truck companies Light Maintenance and Car Battalion battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters, 1× Light Maintenance Company, 1× Car Company Service Company Headquarters, Special Troops, in Stillwater (OK) Headquarters Company, 45th Division, in Wetumka (OK) 45th Signal Company, in Alva (OK) 120th Ordnance Company, in Claremore (OK) 45th Military Police Company, in Marlow (OK)
In August 1941, the 45th Infantry Division took part in the Louisiana Maneuvers, the largest peacetime exercises in U.S. military history. The division was assigned to VIII Corps with the 2nd and 36th Infantry Divisions, camped near Pitkin. 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." In spite of these deficiencies, less than one month later, the men's tour of duty was extended for another eighteen months, much to their chagrin, because of concerns of an impending American entry into World War II.
Triangular division On 23 February 1942, as a part of an Army-wide reorganization of National Guard divisions, the 45th Division was reorganized as a triangular division. The division's two brigade headquarters were disbanded in favor of a structure containing three separate regimental commands reporting directly to the division headquarters, as well as four field artillery battalions under a division artillery headquarters, with the engineer, medical, and quartermaster regiments also reduced to battalions. The 158th Infantry Regiment had already sailed after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to Panama to reinforce the defenses of the Panama Canal Zone. The regiment arrived in Panama on 2 January 1942 and was officially relieved from assignment to the 45th Division on 11 February 1942. With the reorganization the division was renamed 45th Infantry Division. Afterwards the 45th Infantry Division was composed of the following units:
45th Infantry Division 45th Infantry Division Headquarters 45th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized) (M3 scout cars and then M8 Greyhound armored cars) 157th Infantry Regiment Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3× Infantry battalions each battalion consists of: 1× Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3× Rifle companies, 1× Heavy Weapons Company