U.S. Army Soldiers, During the Korean War, 1950s

4th ID. The early 1950s:

Again, here the WWII story will be told, we'll pick up the 4th's story after the war, this division returned to the United States, that was in July 1945, they would Garrison at Camp Butner in North Carolina. And they started their training to ready themselves for the inevitable deployment to the Pacific. But then a surprising end of the war came, and the 4th was inactivated on 5 March 1946.      

It was reactivated and re-tooled for a training division at Fort Ord, California on 15 July 1947, then on 1 October 1950, the division was redesignated as a combat division at Fort Benning, Georgia. In May 1951 it deployed to Germany as the first of four Divisions being committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the early years of the Cold War.     

The division headquarters was in Frankfurt. After a five-year tour in Germany, the division redeployed to Fort Lewis, Washington in May 1956.     

The division was replaced in Germany by the 3rd Armored Division as part of an Operation Gyroscope deployment. The division was reduced to zero strength, the colors were transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington, and the division was reestablished by reflagging the 71st Infantry Division (which itself had just returned from Alaska) on 15 September 1956.    

The division was reorganized into a Pantomimic Division on 1st of April 1957. The Division's three infantry regiments, the 8th, 12th, and the 22nd, were then inactivated, their remaining elements were reorganized into five infantry battle groups.   

Beginning in October 1963, the division started a complete reorganized in the 'Reorganization Objective Army Division' (ROAD) system. Three Brigade Headquarters were then activated, and the Infantry elements were reorganized into battalion size and started training to function as so.   

The lineages of the Tank Companies within the Battalion continue todays with the 66th and 67th Armor Regiments in the 4th Infantry Division. Originally the 6th Tank Battalion was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division at Fort Hood, in Texas, then was sent to Korea 1950s to serve with the 24th Infantry Division.    

The 4th Infantry Division deployed from Fort Lewis to Camp Enari, Pleiku, the Republic of Vietnam on the 25 September 1966. That story you can follow into the 'Vietnam-Infantry Section (Albums).    The Division was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado from 1970 through 1995. They had continued their training for Cold War missions.  In the process, they have been re-formed into a Mechanized Infantry Division, and regularly did high-speed deployment overseas mass deployment operations to Europe, participating in the annual 'REFORGER' exercises as a real deterrent they hoped to the Communist threat.    

In 1976 the Division's 4th Brigade was established and permanently stationed forward at Wiesbaden, West - Germany, they were called 'Brigade 76' and remained there until 1984 when they were inactivated. In general-the, the mesh size of the netting was smaller in the US. Helmet-as issue, but in Korea, on the coast was several shipyards and small fishing communities where the old netting could have been obtained.    

It had been during their time in Fort Carson that the Division assumed the nickname, the "Ironhorse". This uniform depicts that of one used during the latter 50's when the WWII uniform was being phased out. The Fourth's Story continued, and the Division was still activated as of late., I don't have enough uniforms though to tell all of these Divisions and Regiments to show all the changes of uniforms.

2nd ID, Korea, early 1950’s:

Thunderbirds in Korea:

The 45th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army, part of the Oklahoma Army National Guard, from 1920 to 1968. Headquartered mostly in Oklahoma City, 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 in Anzio and the Beachhead breakout to 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 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.