 The 32nd Infantry Division, nicknamed the Red Arrow Division, its shoulder patch, a red arrow piercing a line, signifies that the 32nd has pierced every enemy line it has faced. Their origin? A band of Indian fighters. Later, the 1st and 2nd Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiments were formed and fought in 14 Civil War campaigns together with Michigan units known as the Iron Brigade. Some took part in the Spanish-American War and served on the Mexican border in 1916. The 32nd Division actually came into being in World War I, late 1917. All Infantry National Guard units from Wisconsin and Michigan were regrouped to form the new division. In March 1918, they sailed for France. The 32nd was one of the first National Guard divisions to get into combat, taking part in the Hohdall Sauce, Muse Argonne, Ayn Marne, and Was Ayn Offensives. They were the first Americans to pierce the Hindenburg Line. The French called them L'Étirée, the terrible one. They captured many prisoners, earned many decorations, five battle streamers, and several Croix de Guerre. After the armistice, the 32nd Division led the American occupation forces into Germany. They were returned to the United States and demobilized in May 1919. 20 years later, the peace of the world was again threatened. The 32nd Infantry Division from Wisconsin and Michigan was called again to active duty in October 1940, trained in Louisiana and maneuvered there and in the Carolinas. So, Harbor, the division was immediately triangularized with 126th, 127th, and 128th Infantry Regiments. This was it, preparation for fighting. We knew we were going to need it, but we didn't know how much. April 1942, destination South Pacific. Scared? Yes, a little. Australia, a long way from home. Here we found new friends, but we didn't get a chance to forget what we were down there for. Bayonet drills. Close-in fighting. The works. By late September in 42, the Japs, in spite of heroic resistance by the Australian Army, were within 32 miles of Port Moresby, New Guinea. Australia itself was in danger of invasion. Our 128th Regiment was given only four hours' notice, and then airborne to Moresby, the first American regiment to be airborne into combat. The Japs' threat to Australia had to be stopped, and the Red Arrow Division was to strike the first blow and turn the tide in New Guinea. The Battle of Boona was to be the turning point of the war. Most of us were flown the 100 miles over the all-in-stanly mountains, except the Second Battalion, cannon and anti-tank companies of 126, who went by foot over the Jory Pass. First, we built a road as far as Nipiana for supplies. What a job. Friendly natives helped a lot. Slugging it out over the mountains took 49 agonized days over the 9,000-foot range to reach Boona and to go right into the fighting. Boona became three months of jungle hell. Fighting in those evil-smelling and Japan-fested swamps has since been recognized as one of the most terrible ordeals of the South Pacific War, as fighting against pillboxes with only rifles and hand grenades, getting along on a third of a sea ration a day. And yet, fighting on in spite of it all, General MacArthur kept in touch, very close touch. He knew the importance of taking Boona at all costs. Somehow, we struggled ahead, fighting an enemy that most of the time you couldn't see. We had to route them out of trees and foxholes. They had us bested in the air at that time, too, and that didn't help our airdrops and supplies. But by January 1943, we'd taken Boona, the first Allied ground force victory in the Pacific. I guess we had what it takes by that time. With Boona won, we were sent back to Australia for a much needed rest. And did that mainland look good to us? Here we got our first replacements, and there were plenty of them. More training? Well, we didn't always like it, but we'd learned by now it paid off in battle. New types of fighting equipment, and amphibian maneuvers. We were going to need them. Sador, January 2nd, 1944, needed that airstrip. The landing was easy. There was plenty of Navy help, and not many japs around when we arrived. But they sure were on hand at the Mott River, where their 20th Division, cut off, tried to bypass us through the mountains. It took three and a half months to stop them. They fought bitterly to keep their evacuation trail open. But we'd learned some things by then and forced them higher and higher into the mountains, where hundreds died on the trail. It was all over at Sador by April 14th, 1944. Our next objective, I-TOPI, 300 miles west of Sador, landed April 22nd. The japs had expected us at Wewack, massed their 18th Army there, 40 to 50,000 strong. But we bypassed them, and with the help of a heavy naval barrage, we surprised them at I-TOPI, along the Drinamore River, cutting off their supplies. Remembering us, the japs decided to try to knock us out and regain their supplies. Attacking fanatically, two of their regiments managed to force a crossing of the Drinamore through our lines at a point which we were holding with only a single battalion. Two miles, reinforced and counterattacked. After sharp fighting, we regained the river line. Then for six weeks, we fought a front and rear battle as the two regiments hit us from the rear while the main force pounded our front. But we turned back every thrust, and by mid-August, the beaten remnants of the proud Jap 18th Army straggled back toward Wewack, leaving 9,300 known Jap deaths. I-TOPI was secure. Some of our men went on to help take Biak and Morotai. The rest of us were moved up to Holandia to stage for our next big show, The Philippines. At Holandia, we got a little rest. Some welcome, USO amusements, and more training. In November 1944, we left for the Philippines, Operation Leyte. They told us the score, and we knew we were ready. Had some action on the way. On November 14, 1944, we arrived off Leyte near Tacloban and moved into the Karagara-Pinemapoon sector. Passed through the Battle Weary 24th Division and went on to take Limon and wipe out the Jap spirit at Kulesian Point. From then on, Leyte was a real slugging match between the 32nd and the famed Jap 1st Division. From November 16 to December 22, every inch of ground from Pinemapoon to Lenoy was no-holes bar, and 26 inches of rain in one month. Little by little, we pushed the nips out. Met plenty of counter-attacks on the way, but we burned, blasted, and dug them out. Finally managed to break through the vaunted Yamashita line. Join the 1st Cavalry Division and pushed on to the seacoast at Tabango Bay, ending organized enemy resistance on northern Leyte. On January 24, 1945, the 32nd left for Luzon. On the 27th of January, we arrived in the Lingayan Gulf, and on January 30th, moved into the line east of the Gulf. Then the push over the tortuous Villa Verde trail. 119 days of sharp-ridged mountain fighting. We had to build our own roads. The Filipinos pitched in here, and helped bring up supplies, too. The toughest kind of going, but by using everything we had and then some, by May 25th, 1945, we met the 25th Infantry Division near Santa Fe, secured Baleti Pass. 9,000 Japs had been killed in the struggle. We didn't know at the time that this was to be our last combat mission, except for mopping up, and its tough, hard fighting. Then came the big news. The war was over. General Yamashita, Supreme Japanese Commander in the Philippines, had surrendered to the 128th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Division. Now, rest and recreation. Wonderful words. Finally, on to Japan, and it had been a long, rough trip. We had come a long way since we left San Francisco on April 22, 1942. 7,630 miles across the Pacific to Adelaide, Australia. 900 miles by rail to Brisbane. By sea and air, 1,200 miles to Port Moresby, New Guinea. Over the Owen Stanley Mountains to Boona. Then in surprise leapfrog actions, we see Sador and Itapi. We reached Holandia, our springboard to the Philippines. Onward 1,250 miles to Takloban for the Battle of Laki. Northward to Lingaian Gulf for our final battle on the Villa Verde Trail. And at last, Sasebo, Japan for occupation. We had traveled almost 14,000 miles. The 32nd has more combat hours in World War II than any other American division. 654 days of fighting, with more than 28,000 enemy known to have been killed. The shoulder patch has not lost its meaning. Red Arrow Division has pierced every enemy line it is faced.