The 7th Infantry Division / Multi-Domain Command Pacific is an active duty division of the United States Army based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It is charged with maintaining the capability of two Stryker infantry brigade combat teams, a combat aviation brigade, and a Division Artillery Unit, as well as preparing units for several U.S. Army Pacific yearly exercises. The 7th Infantry Division is the only active-duty multi-component division headquarters in the Army. Brigadier General Bernard J. Harrington commands the division. The 7th Infantry Division is also home to two of the Army's newest enabling battlefield capabilities, the Multi Domain Task Force and the Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space Capabilities, or I2CEWS battalion.
The division was first activated in December 1917 in World War I, and has been based at Fort Ord, California for most of its history. Although elements of the division saw brief active service in World War I, it is best known for its participation in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II where it took heavy casualties engaging the Imperial Japanese Army in the Aleutian Islands, Leyte, and Okinawa. Following the Japanese surrender in 1945, the division was stationed in Japan and Korea, and with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 was one of the first units in action. It took part in the Inchon Landings and the advance north until Chinese forces counter-attacked and almost overwhelmed the scattered division. The 7th later went on to fight in the Battle of Pork Chop Hill and the Battle of Old Baldy.
After the Korean War ended, the division was headquartered at Camp Casey with artillery units supporting the 1st Cavalry Division just south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone until the mid-1960s. In the late 1980s, it briefly saw action overseas in Operation Golden Pheasant in Honduras and Operation Just Cause in Panama. In the early 1990s, it provided domestic support to the civil authorities in Operation Green Sweep and during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. In 1994 the division was inactivated with a few units transferring to Fort Lewis, and Fort Ord closing. In June 1999 the 7th was reactivated at Fort Carson, Colorado and comprised three National Guard brigades. The 1st Battalion, 162d Infantry of the Oregon Army National Guard was attached to the 7th Infantry Division and deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2003 to 2004. The division's final role was as a training and evaluation unit for Army National Guard brigades, which it undertook until its inactivation in 2006.
On 26 April 2012, the Department of Defense announced the reactivation of the 7th Infantry Division headquarters supporting the mission of I Corps.
History
World War I
Activation and movement to France
The War Department ordered the formation of the 7th Division on 6 December 1917 at Camp Wheeler, near Macon, Georgia. The nucleus of the division was formed by Regular Army units stationed at Camp Wheeler (8th Field Artillery), Camp Greenleaf (22nd, 34th, 35th, and 36th Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals), and Chickamauga Park (55th and 56th Infantry and 80th Field Artillery), Georgia, Fort Bliss (34th and 64th Infantry), Camp Logan (79th Field Artillery), and Fort Sam Houston (5th Engineer Regiment), Texas, Fort Sill, Oklahoma (8th Field Artillery), and Camp Vail, Vermont (10th Field Signal Battalion). Regular Army officers and graduates of the First and Second Officers' Training Camps formed the commissioned personnel of the unit, and Brigadier General Charles H. Barth assumed command on 1 January 1918. Systematic training began in the spring and was continued through the summer despite many transfers. In May and June 1918, 20,000 new men joined the division from Camp Wheeler, Camp Travis, Texas, and Columbus Barracks, Ohio, the majority hailing from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.
On 18 July 1918, the division moved to ports of embarkation as it prepared to deploy to Europe as a part of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF). The unit arrived at Hoboken, New Jersey and in New York, via Camp Merritt, where additional replacements joined the unit. The majority of the unit sailed to Brest, France. The 7th Supply Train and the 7th Train Headquarters and Military Police sailed for Bordeaux, France. The units began to arrive in France on 26 July with the last units arriving on 3 September 1918. Most of the division sailed to Europe aboard the SS Leviathan.
Training in France
From the period of 17 August to 9 October, the division conducted final training and preparation to enter the line in the Ancy-le-Franc Training Area. Some soldiers from the unit were sent to the 4th and 26th Divisions as replacements for losses. From the period of 2 September through the 14th the unit was under the administrative control of the VI Corps.
From the period of 10 October until the end of the war on 11 November, the division, minus their artillery occupied and conducted local engagements in the Puvenelle Sector (Lorraine). On 10 October 1918, the division relieved the 90th Division on the front with a front line from Sablière, Vandières (incl), Côte 327, north edge of Bois des Rappes, la Souleuvre Fme, 1½ km south of Rembercourt-sur-Mad. The 92nd Division was on the right and the 37th Division was on the left. On 16 October, the 28th Division moved in on the left of the 7th Division. Several days later, on 23 October, the 92nd Division (VI Corps) occupied the sector on the. Three days later on 26 October the sector was reduced by moving the east boundary to a line between Villers-sous-Prény and Prény (both incl). Elements of the 92nd Division relieved the 56th Infantry Regiment. On 29 October, the sector was extended west to a line from Xammes to Charey, with the 64th Infantry relieving elements of the 28th Division, on a front along the eastern edge of Bois de Blainchamp, northern edge of Bois de Hailbat, eastern edge of Bois du Rupt, northern edge of Bois de la Montagne. The following lists shows the order of battle, units that contributed personnel to form the nucleus of units, and the unit activation dates and locations.
World War II
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