News, Notes, and Updates
2009 Reunion
The 2009 National Reunion of the 34th Infantry Division Association will take place July 15th-19th, Wednesday-Sunday, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Transportation will be available from and to Harrisburg International Airport.
Program planning is underway for special events at the Gettysburg National Military Park with its new Museum and Visitor Center on Wednesday and at the US Army Heritage and Education Center with the vast collection of Red Bull history in its Military History Institute on Friday.
The reunion hotel and headquarters will be the Comfort Suites in downtown Carlisle, and the room rate will be the 2009 military per diem rate, presently $84. per night.
Information and details on the program will be made available in the newsletters of both the Natinal Association and the Tri-State Chapter, as well as on this website.
Newsletters
The current National Newsletter is now online. as well as a downloadable copy of the 2009 Membership and Order Form for books and memorabilia. Both documents are in PDF format.
135th Infantry Regiment in World War II
A collection of 17 PDF files, totaling 126 MB, brings online almost 700 pages of a draft official 135th Infantry Regiment history. This has been posted on our companion website, Military History Network.
A directory webpage, 135th Infantry History identifies each downloadable file by its date, phase of operations, and size. If you have any 135th Infantry connection, we suggest that you download at least the Foreword section - 12 pages - which includes the contents and outline information along with an overview history of both Regiment and Division.
That extensive history document is on the other website because I am now doing some work as senior historian for the Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge. We're using the internet as a tool for exchanging documents and various reports. At the same time, we want to be able to share that work with you.
Please get in touch with me by e-mail if you would like to have this particular history on a digital CD.
Members' Discussions 'Guest Book'
We launched as of 15 February a Guest Book resource for this website which will support your Members' Discussions, with a permanent link at the top of this page.
To counteract the massive automated 'spam' problem we had on an earlier message board, you will now need to enter a four-character code when you are ready to upload your message; the code is a part of the message form. I realize it's a bit of a bother, but it's the first line of defense to the hundred-plus nuisance messages per day that forced us to kill our earlier implementation.
168th Infantry Regiment in North Africa
A report by Col. Thomas Drake, commanding the 168th Infantry Regiment in Tunisia, was recently uncovered at the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum. This was his official report of the actions leading up to the capture of much of the Regiment in February 1943. It is now available here as a PDF file, 6.5 MB, Tunisian Operations, 168th Infantry.
In accepting Col. Drake's report, Major General Charles Ryder wrote on 1 May 1945:
"Knowing the conditions, I can only marvel at the gallantry
of the 168th Infantry and yourself in the face of overwhelming
odds. You and you alone were fighting the entire German
armored force of General Rommel and the delay you caused saved
the Allied Forces in Southern Tunisia from disaster. Both of
you wrote a page in Amerioan history for which you can be well
proud. The blame for your defeat can only be layed on the
shoulders of those who completely failed to come to your support
as had been planned."
Veteran Information and Searches
We now have online a new message forum implementation for the Veteran Information and Searches board which we had provided in the past. The permanent link appears at the top of this page. The return has been long-overdue, but it had to await a more 'spam'-resistant implementation.
• 2008 Reunion Registration (Des Moines) (PDF File)
• April 2008 Newsletter (PDF File)
• January 2008 Newsletter (PDF File)
• November 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• May 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• April 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
The Association's Postal Address is:
34th Infantry Division Association
Iowa Gold Star Museum, Bldg A-9
7105 NW 70th Avenue
Johnston IA 50131-1824
• 2008 Reunion Registration (Pittsburgh) (PDF File)
• April 2008 Newsletter (PDF File)
• December 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• August 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• June 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• May 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• March 2007 Newsletter (PDF File)
• Tri-State Membership Application (PDF File)
• Standing Rules of the Chapter
The Chapter's Postal Address is:
Tri-State Chapter
34th Infantry Division Association
PO Box 1166
Pocasset MA 02559-1166
Principal Directory of Contents
If you have problems using these 'pull-down' menus, please let the Webmaster know; you may find it easier to use the SiteMap at the top of this page.
This Directory section is being redesigned, so don't expect perfection ... yet. Thanks.
Who Were We?
WW II Order of Battle - 34th Infantry Division
- Headquarters, 34th Infantry Division
- 133rd Infantry Regiment
100th Infantry Battalion (Separate) [assigned Naples-Foggia, Anzio, Rome-Arno]
- 135th Infantry Regiment
- 168th Infantry Regiment
168th Commandos
- 442nd Regimental Combat Team [attached Rome-Arno]
442nd Infantry Regiment
100th Infantry Battalion
232nd Engineeer (Combat) Company
442nd Medical Detachment
522nd Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
- 34th Division Artillery
34th Division Artillery Headquarters and Headquarters Battery
125th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
(normally in support of the 133rd Inf. Regt.)
151st Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
(normally in support of the 135th Inf. Regt.)
175th Field Artillery Battalion (105mm)
(normally in support of the 168th Inf. Regt.)
185th Field Artillery Battalion (155mm)
- 34th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
- 109th Engineer (Combat) Battalion
- 109th Medical Battalion
- 34th Division Special Troops
Headquarters, Special Troops, 34th Division
34th Infantry Division Headquarters Company
34th Infantry Division Band
Military Police Platoon, 34th Division
34th Counter-Intelligence Detachment [attached]
34th Quartermaster Company
34th Signal Company
734th Ordnance (Light Maintenance) Company
- Jewish Infantry Brigade (attached Occupation)
- A Company, 2nd Chemical Warfare Battalion (attached Naples-Foggia)
- 35th Quartermaster War Dog Platoon (attached North Apennines)
- 38th Infantry Scout Dog Platoon (attached Occupation)
- 72nd Signal Company (Special) (attached Naples-Foggia)
- 84th Chemical Mortar Battalion (attached North Apennines)
- 100th Chemical Mortar Battalion (attached North Apennines, Po Valley)
- 105th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (Self-Propelled) (attached Naples-Foggia)
- 107th Coast Artillery Battalion (AAA Automatic Weapons) Battalion (attached Tunisia)
- A Company, 191st Tank Battalion (attached Naples-Foggia)
- 2nd Battalion, 351st Infantry Regiment (attached North Apennines)
- 432nd AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (attached North Apennines)
- 435th AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (Self-Propelled) (attached Anzio)
- 443rd AAA Automatic Weapons Battalion (Self-Propelled) (attached Tunisia)
- 751st Tank Battalion (attached Tunisia)
- 752nd Tank Battalion (attached Rome-Arno, North Apennines, Po Valley, Occupation)
- 753rd Tank Battalion (attached Rome-Arno)
- 757th Tank Battalion (attached North Apennines)
- 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached Naples-Foggia)
- 804th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached North Apennines)
- 807th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached North Apennines)
- 813th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached Tunisia)
- 894th Tank Destroyer Battalion (attached Rome-Arno)
- and still other units which remain to be found, confirmed, and listed here.
Special Notes
The 100th Infantry Battalion (Nisei)(Separate), which stood in for the 2nd Battalion, 133rd Infantry, from September 1943 through May 1944, and the 442nd Infantry Regiment (Nisei) which was attached to our Division from June 1944 through August 1944, have an especially honored place in our memories and history. We are pleased and likewise honored that many of their veterans have come to look upon the "Red Bull" as their 'home' division. That Battalion is now deployed to Iraq!
The 1st Ranger Battalion, though not a part of the 34th Inf Div, was activated in 1942 with 80% of its personnel coming from this Division.
I'm delighted to report that I'm finding references to more units which were attached to the Division as I'm transcribing our narrative history documents; they all get recognized above. Please be aware, though, that attachments were often for periods of days or weeks, not for an entire campaign.
PDF (Portable Document Format) files may require Adobe Acrobat software for viewing.
Please click on the image to the right if you need to load it on your system.
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Updated 2008 November 11, Veterans' Day.
Design Copyright © 2002-2008 Patrick Skelly,
for the 34th Infantry Division Association.
For further Website information, contact webmaster@34infdiv.org.
For further Association information, contact Don Prock.
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