NAME:
Ninety-Ninth Infantry Division / 99th Division
NICKNAME:
"Checkerboard Division" and "Battle Babies"
NICKNAME HISTORY:
The 99th Infantry Division, the "Checkerboard" division, gained its nickname from the division's insignia. The insignia was devised upon the 99th's formation in 1942, when the division was headquartered in the city of Pittsburgh. The blue and white checkerboard in the division's insignia is taken from the coat of arms of William Pitt, for whom Pittsburgh is named. The division was also known as the "Battle Babies" during 1945, a sobriquet coined by a United Press correspondent when the division was first mentioned in press reports during the Battle of the Bulge.
From: http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=...duleId=10006153
BATTLE HONORS:
World War II
Rhineland
Ardennes-Alsace
Central Europe
ACTIVATED:
July 23, 1918
June 24, 1921
April 1, 1942
Dec 22, 1967
DEACTIVATED:
Dec 1918
May 31, 1942
Oct 15, 1945
HISTORY:
World War I to the 1930s
The 99th's original roots began on July 23, 1918, when the unit was constituted as the 99th Division in Camp Wheeler, Ga.
On June 24, 1921, it was reconstituted as the 99th (Checkerboard) Division and assigned to the Organized Reserve in Pittsburgh. The 99th assumed a Military Police mission in January 1942. Then, on April 1, 1942, it was reorganized as the 99th Infantry Division.
World War II
Activated: 15 November 1942
Overseas: 30 September 1944
Campaigns: Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe
Days of combat: 151
Distinguished Unit Citations: 2
Awards: MH-1 ; DSC-16 ; DSM-1 ; SS-252; LM-6; DFC-7 ; SM-8 ; BSM-2,127 ; AM-48
Commanders: Maj. Gen. Thompson Lawrence (November 1942-July 1943), Maj. Gen. Walter E. Lauer (July 1943-18 August 1945), Brig. Gen. Frederick H. Black (August 1945 to inactivation)
Returned to U. S.: 17 September 1945
Inactivated: 15 October 1945
Combat Chronicle
The 99th Infantry Division arrived in England, 10 October 1944, moved to Le Havre, France, 3 November, and proceeded to Aubel, Belgium, to prepare for combat. The division first saw action on the 9th, taking over the defense of the sector north of the Roer River between Schmidt and Monschau. After defensive patrolling, the 99th probed the Siegfried Line against heavy resistance, 13 December.
The Ardennes Offensive caught the division on the 16th. Although cut up and surrounded in part, the 99th held as a whole until reinforcements came. Then it drew back gradually to form defensive positions east of Elsenborn on the 19th. Here it held firmly against violent enemy attacks. From 21 December 1944 to 30 January 1945, the unit was engaged in aggressive patrolling and reequipping. It attacked toward the Monschau Forest, 1 February, mopping up and patrolling until it was relieved for training and rehabilitation, 13 February.
On 2 March, 1945, the division took the offensive, moving toward Keln and crossing the Erft Canal near Glesch. After clearing towns west of the Rhine, it crossed the river at Remagen on the 11th and continued to Linz and to the Wied. Crossing on the 23d, it pushed east on the Koln-Frankfurt highway to Giessen. Against light resistance it crossed the Dill River and pushed on to Krofdorf-Gleiberg, taking Giessen 29 March. The 99th then moved to Schwarzenau, 3 April, and attacked the southeast sector of the Ruhr Pocket on the 5th. Although the enemy resisted fiercely, the Ruhr pocket collapsed with the fall of Iserlohn, 16 April.
The last drive began on 23 April. The 99th crossed the Ludwig Canal against stiff resistance and established a bridgehead over the Altmuhl River, 25 April. The Danube was crossed near Eining on the 27th and the Isar at Landshut, 1 May, after a stubborn fight. The attack continued without opposition to the Inn River and Giesenhausen when VE-day came.
Assignments in the ETO
4 November 1944: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group
18 December 1944: Attached to 2d Infantry Division of the V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group
20 December 1944: Attached, with the entire First Army, to the British 21st Army Group
7 January 1944: Relieved from attachment to the 2nd Infantry Division and assigned to V Corps, First Army (attached to the British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group
18 January 1945: V Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group
20 February 1945: VII Corps
9 March 1945: III Corps
19 April 1945: III Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group
Medal of Honor Recipients
Vernon McGarity: Technical Sergeant, U.S. Army, Company L, 393rd Infantry, 99th Infantry Division. Near Krinkelt, Belgium, 16 December 1944
Post-World War II to Present
Today's 99th RRC is rich in heritage, lineage and honors from World Wars I and II; The Korean and Vietnam Wars; Operations Urgent Fury, Just Cause; Operations Desert Shield/Storm, and Operation Joint Guard/Endeavor, the peacekeeping mission in the Balkan Republics. The 99th Regional Support Command was officially organized on April 16, 1996, becoming one of 10 regional support commands which were formerly 20 Army Reserve commands located in the United States. The 99th Headquarters in Oakdale, Pa., absorbed the then 97th and 79th Army Reserve Commands during this restructuring transition period.
Reactivated as the 99th U.S. Army Reserve Command on Dec 22, 1967, the 99th has since remained in the Army Reserve. While this reorganization of the entire Army Reserve was occurring, American involvement in Vietnam was escalating. There was no significant call-up of Reserve soldiers during Vietnam; however, units and individual soldiers of the 99th ARCOM served with distinction during the war. The 630th Transportation Company was activated on May 13, 1968, served 11 months in South Vietnam and returned home to Washington, Pa., in August 1969. While in Vietnam soldiers of the 630th earned two Purple Hearts and 14 Bronze Stars.
Units and members of the 99th were deployed to Grenada during Operation Urgent Fury in 1983 and in 1989 they were sent to Panama for Operation Just Cause.
After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, 22 99th RSC units with more than 2,000 soldiers deployed to Saudi Arabia, Europe and other locations. On February 25, 1991, during the last few hours of the Gulf War, a SCUD missile destroyed a barracks that housed members of the 99th Regional Support Command's 14th Quartermaster Detachment. In the single, most devastating attack on U.S. forces during that war, 29 soldiers died and 99 wounded. The 14th Quartermaster Detachment, from Greensburg, Pa., lost 13 soldiers and suffered 43 wounded. The 99th's involvement in operations Desert Shield and Storm ended with the demobilization of the last unit on Sept. 21, 1991.
Since 1995, nearly 1,200 99th Regional Support Command soldiers have deployed in support of operations in Bosnia. In addition to units, individual soldiers have volunteered to fill shortfalls in the active Army.
In late 2003 all Regional Support Commands were re-designated to Regional Readiness Commands.
In the 2005 BRAC Recommendations, DoD recommended to disestablish the HQ 99th Regional Readiness Command located at Pitt USARC, Coraopolis, PA. The DoD would instead establish a Northeast Regional Readiness Command Headquarters at Fort Dix, NJ, which, according to DoD, would further support the re-engineering and streamlining of the Command and Control structure of the Army Reserves
The 99th Infantry Division Today
The 99th Regional Readiness Command is comprised of 185 units served by more than 20,000 soldiers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia. Units of the 99th RSC span the spectrum of the Combat Support and Combat Service Support branches of the Army. Of the 99th's units, 41 are designated as Force Support Package units - units which will be the first called in the event of a global crisis or contingency.
The 99th Regional Readiness Command is responsible for over 200 facilities including Army Reserve Centers, Army Maintenance Support Activities, Equipment Concentration Sites, local training areas and air support facilities. The 99th is responsible for an annual budget of more than $70 million dollars.
Divisional history from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/US_99th_Infantry_Division
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/99rsc.htm
