The
29th Infantry Division (
29th ID), also known as the "
Blue and Gray Division",
[1] is an
infantry division of the
United States Army based in
Fort Belvoir,
Virginia. It is currently a
formation of the U.S.
Army National Guard and contains units from Virginia,
Maryland,
Kentucky,
North Carolina, South Carolina and
West Virginia.
Formed in 1917, the division deployed to France as a part of the
American Expeditionary Force during World War I. Called up for service again in World War II, the division's 116th Regiment, attached to the
First Infantry Division, was in the first wave of troops ashore during
Operation Neptune, the landings in
Normandy, France. It supported a special Ranger unit tasked with clearing strong points at
Omaha Beach. The rest of the 29th ID came ashore later, then advanced to
Saint-Lô, and eventually through France and into Germany.
Following the end of World War II, the division saw frequent reorganizations and deactivations. Although the 29th did not see combat through most of the next 50 years, it participated in numerous training exercises throughout the world. It eventually saw deployments to
Bosnia (
SFOR10) and
Kosovo (
KFOR) as command elements, and units of the division continue to deploy to locations such as
Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and to the
War in Afghanistan as a part of the
Global War on Terrorism's
Operation Enduring Freedom, and also to the
Iraq War, as a part of its
Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
In 2016, two separate elements of the 29th deployed overseas. In July more than 80 soldiers deployed in support of anti-ISIL operations (dubbed
Operation Inherent Resolve by the U.S. government).
[2][3] In October, more than 450 29th soldiers deployed in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
The 29th Division was first constituted on paper 18 July 1917, three months after the
American entry into World War I, in the
U.S. Army National Guard.
[6]:319 The division's infantry units were the
57th Infantry Brigade, made up of the
113th and
114th Infantry Regiments, both from
New Jersey, and the
58th Infantry Brigade, made up of the
115th Infantry Regiment from
Maryland and
116th Infantry Regiment from
Virginia. Its artillery units were Maryland's 110th Artillery Regiment; Virginia's
111th Field Artillery Regiment; and New Jersey's
112th Field Artillery Regiment. As the division was composed of men from states that had units that fought for both the North and South during the Civil War, it was nicknamed the "Blue and Gray" division, after the blue uniforms of the
Union and the gray uniforms of the
Confederate armies during the
American Civil War.
[7] The division was organized as a unit on 25 August 1917 at
Camp McClellan,
Alabama.
