The 108th Infantry Regiment is a regiment of the New York Army National Guard. It was first formed in 1898 and has been in continuous existence since 1907. As National Guardsmen, Soldiers of the 108th Infantry can be called upon to serve the state and federal governments. The 108th has served in the Spanish–American War, the Mexican Border War, World War I, World War II, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Spanish–American War The 108th Infantry Regiment was originally called the 3rd New York Volunteer Infantry. When the Spanish–American War broke out in April 1898, a new regiment was organized from twelve separate National Guard companies from the 4th Brigade. (Regiments called the 3rd New York and 108th New York Infantry had both served in the Civil War; these were different units with no connection to the later 108th.) The 3rd New York, headquartered in Rochester, mustered into service on 17 May 1898. They were involved in drilling, provost, and camp duty in Virginia and Pennsylvania. The brief war with Spain ended before the regiment could be sent into action, and the Guardsmen were mustered out of federal service by companies between 30 November and 10 December 1898. Thirty-three members of the 3rd New York died of disease during its short service, with several more dying afterward of typhoid fever contracted while on active duty.New York and the War with Spain: History of the Empire State Regiments (Albany: Argus Company, 1903). The state historian called the 3rd New York Regiment "unquestionably one of the best that New York sent into the service," noting that not a single member had to be disciplined in its first three months of duty.
Composition of 3rd NY Volunteer Infantry As of 2 May 1898 Headquarters – Rochester
1st Battalion Co. L (formerly 30th Separate Co.): Elmira Co. I (43rd): Olean Co. K (47th): Hornellsville Co. D (48th): Oswego
2nd Battalion Co. M (2nd): Auburn Co. A (8th): Rochester Co. B (34th): Cortlandt Manor Co. C (41st): Syracuse
3rd Battalion Co. H (1st): Rochester Co. G (25th): Tonawanda Co. F (29th): Medina Co. E (42nd): Niagara Falls
Early 20th century After the war the 3rd New York was dissolved and the companies returned to the peacetime National Guard duties of drilling and supporting the state and local authorities. The companies were reorganized as the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Infantry Battalions on 22 December 1898, and were consolidated into the 3rd Infantry on 30 March 1907. In April 1913 the 3rd served in Buffalo during rioting caused by a streetcar workers' strike. (Digitized for Microsoft Corporation by the Internet Archive in 2008. From University of California Libraries. Available online via the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs web site.) It was also deployed for guard duty at Pharr, Texas on the Mexican border in 1916 during the U.S. Army's expedition against the guerrilla commander Pancho Villa.
World War I
On October 1, 1917, nearly six months after the American entry into World War I, as New York National Guardsmen trained at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, the 108th Infantry Regiment was formed pursuant to a general order. By the same order, 1,350 men were transferred in from the 74th New York Infantry (Buffalo) and 293 men from the 12th New York Infantry (New York City).A Brief History and Illustrated Roster of the 108th Infantry, United States Army (Philadelphia: Edward Stern and Co., 1918), n.p. In November 1917 the regiment was organized into the 54th Infantry Brigade as part of the 27th Division, commanded by Major General John F. O'Ryan. By 31 May 1918 the whole regiment had arrived in France. The 27th Division (minus the division's artillery) was attached to British forces for training and issued British rifles and machine guns. Members of the 108th Infantry received training on a variety of military subjects and enjoyed friendly relations with their instructors, the Training Cadre of the 6th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers, 66th Division.Capt. C. H. Potter and Capt. A. S. C. Fothergill, The History of the 2/6th Lancashire Fusiliers: The Story of a 2nd Line Territorial battalion, 1914-1919 (Rochdale: Observer General Printing Works, 1927), 163-166. The 27th Division ended up fighting alongside the British and Australians for its entire combat service. The Regimental Scout Officer of the 108th noted that "we were supposed to leave behind the customs and traditions of the U.S. Army, in which we had been so carefully brought up, in order that we might study and adapt ourselves to those of our Allies, the British, with whom our lot had been cast for the duration of the war." This included living on the British Tommy's relatively scanty rations.
The 27th Division initially served in the trenches around Ypres alongside the British from July to September 1918. In September, the New Yorkers joined the British Fourth Army in the infamous Somme region, facing the Germans' formidable Hindenburg Line. Ordered to advance on 27 September, the 27th Division was unable to hold its gains. Several members of the 108th Infantry Regiment were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions in the area of Ronssoy on 28–29 September: Private Daniel Moskowitz, Co. F, Private Morris Silverberg, Co. G, Private (First Class) Edward P. Pierce, Co. D, Corporal James Paul Clark, Co. F, and Sgt. Martin M. Smith, Co. G. The 54th Brigade attacked as part of the Hundred Days Offensive on 29 September. German artillery, poison gas, and machine guns took a heavy toll as the Americans struggled through barbed wire and shell holes to reach the Hindenburg Line. The 108th penetrated the German defenses at Quennemont Farm, although they were stalled by severe casualties and an enemy counterattack, and Australian units were sent in to complete the assault. Many leaderless Americans joined in the Australian attack without orders. This engagement is officially called the Battle of St. Quentin Canal. Private First Class Frank Gaffney of Company G later received a Medal of Honor for his heroism. The 108th joined in the pursuit of the retreating Germans, engaging them at Jonc de Mer Ridge, the Selle River, and Catillon."Highest Praise for Soldiers of the 108th;" "The Word from the 108th was Good—It was holding," both in Geneva (New York) Daily Times, n.d. (late 1918). The 500 survivors still on duty were pulled out of the line to rest on 21 October, three weeks before the Armistice with Germany ended the fighting.
The 108th Infantry suffered 1,763 casualties—including 331 dead—in three months of combat out of 3,056 men in the ranks. Most of these casualties occurred in the Hindenburg Line attack. Reasons for the heavy losses included a lack of experienced leadership and the eagerness of the doughboys, who often made frontal assaults on enemy machine gun nests. Additionally, Allied artillery did not "soften up" the Germans with a preparatory bombardment before the attack, for fear of hitting Americans lying wounded from an earlier assault. Nevertheless, as the 27th Division commander Major General O'Ryan remarked: "That the 108th Infantry ... should have broken through the maze of wire that existed and in the face of machine guns firing from every trench and nest, lodged one battalion in the main position, now seems an extraordinary feat.""Highest Praise for Soldiers of the 108th," Geneva (New York) Daily Times, n.d. (late 1918).
Interwar period
On 6 March 1919 the 108th Infantry returned to New York aboard the RMS Mauretania and was mustered out of federal service at Camp Upton. On 24 April 1920, the 108th once again became the 3rd New York Infantry, having been reorganizing since the previous August. Under the National Defense Act of 1920, the 108th Infantry was reconstituted in the National Guard on 30 December 1920, assigned to the 27th Division, and allotted to the state of New York, and the 3rd Infantry was redesignated the 108th Infantry for a second time on 1 June 1921. In 1925, the 108th adopted a distinctive unit insignia featuring a fasces held by two lions. Elements of the regiment were called up to perform flood relief work near Binghamton, New York, from 18–20 March 1936. The regiment conducted annual summer training most years at Camp Smith, near Peekskill, New York, from 1921–38. It was inducted into active federal service at Syracuse, New York, on 15 October 1940, and moved to Fort McClellan, Alabama, where it arrived 26 October 1940.
World War II
Composition in 1940
Headquarters: Syracuse Headquarters Company: Syracuse Antitank Company: Rochester Service Company: Auburn Band Section: Syracuse Medical Detachment: Syracuse Headquarters, 1st Battalion: Syracuse Headquarters Detachment, 1st Battalion: Syracuse Co. A: Watertown Co. B: Geneva Co. C: Syracuse Co. D: Oswego Headquarters, 2nd Battalion: Rochester Headquarters Detachment, 2nd Battalion: Rochester Cos. E, G, and H: Rochester Co. F: Medina Headquarters, 3rd Battalion: Auburn Headquarters Detachment, 3rd Battalion: Auburn Co. I: Auburn Co. K: Hornell Co. L: Elmira Co. M: Ogdensburg
The 27th Division became part of the garrison of Hawaii in April 1942. It was here that the 108th parted ways with the New York Division. An Army-wide reorganization cut divisions from four regiments to three, and the 108th Infantry was transferred to the 40th Infantry Division (California National Guard) on 1 September 1942. The 40th Division remained on Hawaii for fourteen more months.
In January 1944 the division landed on the South Pacific island of Guadalcanal, which had been largely secured by U.S. forces a year earlier. That April they moved to Cape Gloucester on New Britain, with the 108th being stationed at Arawe in the south. This was a more active area where the regiments of the 40th conducted combat patrols, since there were still many Japanese troops on the island. As they did on Guadalcanal, however, the men of the 108th found that their most dangerous enemy on Cape Gloucester was not the Japanese Army but the harsh jungle climate."California's Own" (accessed 21 June 2011)
On 28 November the 40th Infantry Division was concentrated at Borgen Bay to prepare for the invasion of Luzon, the largest and most strategically important of the Philippine Islands. The 108th Regimental Combat Team—composed of the 108th Infantry Regiment, the 164th Field Artillery Battalion, Co. C of the 115th Engineer Combat Battalion, and Co. C of the 115th Medical Battalion—was in reserve on S-Day—9 January 1945, when the Sixth Army landed at Lingayen Gulf. Japanese resistance intensified as the GIs moved south toward Manila, and the 108th fought brutal battles for possession of Fort Stotsenburg, Clark Field, Top of the World, Hill 7, and Sacobia Ridge. The 43rd Infantry Division relieved the 40th on 2 March. Six days later the 108th was detached and sent to the island of Leyte to assist in mopping up defeated Japanese forces. The regiment's 2nd Battalion also cleared Masbate and other local islands."The 40th Division in WWII" ;"108th Infantry Regiment World War Two," (both accessed 20 June 2011). On Leyte and Masbate the 108th lost an estimated 19 troops killed and 49 wounded.M. Hamlin Cannon, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines (Washington: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1954), 368.