Photo By Staff Sgt. Andrew Valenza | New York Army National Guard Sgt. Chance Ahlberg, assigned to the 427th Brigade...... read more read more
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TROY, N.Y. – Fifty members of the 42nd Infantry Division, the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and the 369th Sustainment Brigade were in France in July, August and September as part of the Army-wide effort to mark the American Army’s contributions to victory in World War I.
The Army had units and Soldiers participating in five major commemorative events in France leading up to the centennial of the Armistice on November 11, 2018.
Twenty-five members of the New York Army National Guard’s 42nd Infantry Division, which is headquartered in Troy, were traveled to France July 23- 30.
Ten members of the 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, headquartered in Syracuse, took part in a visit to France and Belgium August 3-9 and five Soldiers from the 369th Sustainment Brigade, from New York City, were in France from September 19-26.
All these units trace their history back to World War I. All took part in memorial events conducted by the American Battle Monuments Commission and the U.S. Army Center for Military History.
The 42nd Infantry Division was created in the summer of 1917 by bringing together National Guard units from 26 states. Col. Douglas MacArthur, the division’s chief of staff, and eventually its commander, came up with the idea as a way to get Soldiers to France quickly without slighting any one region of the country.
The 42nd Division would stretch across America like a “rainbow”, MacArthur said and that gave the division its name of the Rainbow Division.
The New York National Guard component of that division was the 69th Infantry Regiment, renamed the 165th Infantry Regiment.
The 27th Brigade traces its history back to what was originally the 6th Division made up of New York National Guard troops. The Division was renumbered and went to war serving with the British Army as the 27th Division.
The 369th Sustainment Brigade traces its roots back to the 15th New York Infantry, an African-American regiment in a segregated Army. The 15th New York was renamed the 369th Infantry and fought as part of the French Army.
The unit became famous as the Harlem Hell Fighters.
The delegation led by Major General Steven Ferrari, the current 42nd Infantry Division commander, was the lead element for the commemorations of the Second Battle of the Marne, fought in July of 1918.
Spc. Steven Snyder, a 20-year old member of the division headquarters from Rosendale, N .Y. said it was great to be on the ground where division members fought 100 years ago.
"It's one thing to read and listen to and learn about all the things they did 100 years ago in France, but it's another thing to go there,” he said.
During their visit to France the 42nd Infantry Division Soldiers took part in:
• An Education and Unit Commemoration Day on July 25 where Soldiers visited historic Meuse-Argonne battlefield, and placed a memorial wreath at the Douglas MacArthur memorial at Landres-et-St. Georges.
• Took a tour on July 26 retracing the 42nd Division actions at the Champagne Marne battlefield, visited the Chateau- Thierry WWI American Monument, the Aisne Marne American Cemetery and the Croix Rouge Farm 42nd Division Memorial.
•And took part in a ceremony at the location of the Battle of Croix Rouge Farm, where Alabama troops fought and then at the Oise-Aisne Cemetery on July 28.
Members of the Rainbow Division Veterans Foundation, the division's veterans association, also visited the battlefields at the same time and participated in the events. Former 42nd Infantry Division commanders were part of this contingent.
While there were plenty of official events, one of the best part was meeting people informally, said Capt. Jean Marie Kratzer, the commander of the division’s Headquarters Support Company.
“One of the really cool things was meeting the French residents in the small villages who remember that the Americans were there and made a difference during the war,” she said.
The ten Soldiers from the 27th Brigade, led by 27th Brigade Commander Col. Christopher Cronin, visited sites in Belgium and France where the 27th Division fought as part of the American II Corps as part of the British Army.
Serving alongside Australian and Canadian troops, the 27th Division played a key role in cracking the German Hindenburg defense line in October 1918.
The 27th Brigade delegation took part in commemorative ceremonies at Flanders Field American Cemetery in Waregem, Belgium where Soldiers from the 27th Division are buried. There is a memorial at the cemetery honoring the 27th Division.
A 27th Brigade color guard also took part in a Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in the Beligum City of Ypres. The Menin Gate is a British war memorial commemorating Soldiers who died in the Ypres area where the 27th Division fought.
369th Sustainment Brigade Commander Col. Steve Bousquet, and four Soldiers visited areas where the 369th Infantry fought during World War I and laid a wreath at a memorial in lay a wreath at a memorial to the 369th Infantry during a ceremony at Hartmannswillerkopf, in the Alsace area of France.
| Date Taken: | 09.05.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 09.06.2018 14:33 |
| Story ID: | 291657 |
| Location: | FR |
| Web Views: | 112 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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