During the months of July and August 1956 the men and units of the 28th Infantry Division left their homes and traveled to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, to Fort Knox, Kentucky, or to Camp Perry, Ohio, where for fifteen busy days they learned and relearned the military duties which, when combined, make up the units that build a combat division. For some young men 1956 marked their "first camp" - one they shall always remember. For many others it marked another of many years of service, some of which were highlighted by other field training periods and some of which were spent on active duty in World War II and the Korean Emergency.

This was the third field training period for the 28th Infantry Division since its reorganization was started in June 1953. Field training is the high point of each training year - the forty-eight drills in the armories or on firing ranges or in the field near home are all pointed toward this annual effort when for two weeks civilian pursuits are left behind and the citizen- soldier takes up the business of war.

Citizen-Soldiers make up the oldest type of mili- tary force in the United States. Their traditions go back to early colonial days when settlers banded together and formed local militia units to defend themselves against hostile Indians. The architects of this great republic - with George Washington as their primary spokesman - decided that the defense of the United States should be built around a small regular defense force supported by trained citizens prepared to fight in case of need. The 28th Infantry Division is made up of today's citizen soldiers and the colors of some of its units have been present in every major war or emergency faced by the thirteen colonies and the United States.

In 1747, when the frontiers of the thirteen colonies lay across Pennsylvania, Benjamin Franklin organized his"Battalions of Associator's" to protect the Commonwealth. With the formation of this early militia group the first traditions of the 28th Infantry Division came into being, for today's 103rd Engineer Combat Battalion, located in Philadelphia, traces its traditions back to that venerable organization. Some of the early predecessors of the Division saw service as English colonial troops in the War of the Spanish Succession and the French and Indian Wars between 1747 and 1770.

In 1774, with discontent against the English growing in the Colonies, the First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry was formed in Philadelphia. Known today as the 28th Reconnaissance Company. The "Troop" carries on its long and honorable traditions as one of the oldest military organizations with a continuous record of service in the American military establishment. The 109th Field Artillery of Wilkes-Barre also traces its history to the Revolutionary War when three of its ancestral batteries served in the Continental Army. Revolutionary War battle credits of units of the division include Brandywine, Germantown, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The War of 1812 found predecessors of the division in action before Washington, D.C. In the Mexican War, battle credits were won at Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo.

When the Civil War erupted in 1861 the citizen soldiers of Pennsylvania militia units again left their homes for the battlefields and, before peace was concluded in 1865, at least fifteen new battle streamers had been added to colors now a part of the Division. Their names range across the United States from The Penninsula to Vicksburg-Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, Chancellorsville, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Maryland. The Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Appomattox. The 107th Field Artillary Battalion's crest commemorates their Civil War service with the inscription "From Gettysburg to the Marne".

Following the Civil War most of the militia units were again reorganized on a local basis. Organization varied, often dictated by local custom, and, though the militia men of that day stood ready to serve the Commonwealth in local emergencies and the Federal Government in times of national peril, their equipment and training standards, were far from those that must be met by today's Nitional Guardsmen.

In 1878 Major General John F.Hartranft, who later became governor of Pennsylvania, conceived the idea of having the National Guard of Pennsylvania organized as a single division in conformance with Regular Army Tables of Organization. Pennsylvania, which had been the first state to adopt the term "National Guard", for its militia forces, thus became the first state to form such a division. This division, then known as the 7th Division,served with distinction in theSpanish American War with its units scattered and seeing action on both sides of the world - from Puerto Rico to the Philippine Islands.

The Red Keystone, our present division insignia, became a formal division insigiiia in the late 1800's although it had been worn by many local units for many years prior to that time.

The last active service for units of the Division prior to World War I came in 1916 when many of its present units served on the Mexican border from June through October.

The 28th Infantry Division as we know it today came into being in World War 1. The United States entered the war on 6 April 1917 and Pennsylvania's National Guard units were called into federal service on 15 July.

The 28th Infantry Division was brought into being at Camp Hancock, Georgia, on 17 October 1917, being formed of Pennsylvania National Guard units that had made up the old Pennsylvania National Guard Division. In April 1918 the division moved to Camp Tipton, New York and early in May the first elements sailed from New York as part of the American Expeditionary Force. Division Headquarters arrived at Calais, France on 18 May 1918.

By 14 July the Division was committed to action and, from that day until the guns were silenced by the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the men of the 28th knew no rest. In four months of bitter combat the division took part in six major campaigns. Never knowing the relative restfulness of a "quiet sector" the 28th earned the nickname "Iron Division", bestowed upon it by General of the Armies John J. Pershing, Commander of the American Expeditionary Forces. When the war ended the "Keystone" men were fighting their way forward in the Thaucourt sector. The Champagne, Champagne-Marne, Aisne- Marne, Oise-Aisne, Lorraine and Meuse-Argonne campaigns had joined the roster of battles fought by the units of the 28th at a cost of over 14,000 casualties.

The Division remained in France and Germnany for five months following the Armistice, but by late May 1919 the men of the 28th had returned to the United States. Upon arrival in Pennsylvania and a triumphant homecoming the Division was placed on an inactive list. Reorganization was not long in starting how ever, and in 1921 the Division attended its first post World War I encampment.

From 1921 until 1939 the 28th continued its armory training and annual field training. Units in those days were smaller than currently authorized and the equipment was much simpler, just as life itself was somewhat less technical. Training, however was hard and some of the Guardsmen still in the ranks of the division can tell of the tough encampments they underwent. From time to time elements of the division were called upon to serve their neighboring Pennsylvanians when some natural disaster or emergency arose. These duties were carried out efficiently, with perhaps the greatest effort being called forth in the great floods of March 1936.

In 1939, with war imminent in Europe, the Division left its traditional training grounds, which had been first at Mt. Gretna and Tobyhanna and later at Indiantown Gap, and headed for Manassas, Virginia to participate in large-scale Army maneuvers. Shortly after returning home, war began in Europe and in 1940 the Division took part in three weeks of field training near Ogdensburg, New York as part of a large force of Regular Army and National Guard troops.

By autumn of 1940 the situation in Europe had so deteriorated that the federal government decided to order the National Guard divisions of the various states into active duty for a period of one year. The 28th was alerted and on a cold morning, 17 February 1941, men of the 28th left their homes and reported to their armories for what was intended to be one year of active day training. Ten days later the Division was massing at Indiantown Gap, which had been converted into an Army cantonment area complete with barracks, mess halls, etc, in the matter of a few short months.

The next few months were hectic ones as the Division sought to train itself and to absorb several thousand new members who had been drafted, given basic training in southern camps and sent to fill the ranks of the Division. The 28tb participated in a summer maneuver at A.P. Hill, Virginia and a short time later headed south once again for three months of Army maneuvers in the Carolinas. By the time the maneuvers were ended the Division comprised a fine fighting force which was ready to return to lndiantown Gap to serve out the rest of its year of active duty. History meant otherwise, however, for on the same day that the Division convoys started to roll north out of the Carolinas, Japanese planes were taking off from carriers in the Pacific. By the evening of 7 December l941 the word "Pearl Harbor" had spread throughout the bivouacs dotting the Virginia country side and the men of the 28th knew that they were in service for the "duration".

Moving to Camp Livingston, Louisiana in January 1942, the Division settled down for the long haul of training that would lead to combat. The departure of cadres sent to form new Divisions and individuals going to Officer Candidate Schools plus the arrival of replacements marked the next few months. A greater change was wrought in the organization of the Division as it shifted from a "square" World War I type division, to the "triangular" type that we"know today. The 109th, 110th and 112th Infantry Regiments remained and the field artillery regiment was reorganized into our present 107th, 108th, 109th and 229th Field Artillery Battalions. Gone were the 55th and 56th brigade Headquarters and the 111th Infantry Regiment and the designations of other units were changed from regiments to battalions and battalions to companies.

Following large scale maneuvers the 28th shifted its training site to Camp Gordon Johnson, Florida for intensive amphibious operation training and later to Camp Pickett, Virginia for a short period before embarking for England in October 1943. Billeted through out Wales where its training tempo continued to increase for the next few months the Division prepared for its part in the invasion of Hitler's "Fortress Europa". That day came on 22 July 1944 when the Division landed on the Normandy beaches and entered the battle for the liberation of Europe.

There followed a grinding fight throughout the Normandy hedgerows followed by a fast moving campaign that swept across Western France. Paris was liberated on 25 August and on 29 August the 28th paraded through the city, enroute to further battles on the approaches to Germany. The troops shown in the famous pictures showing American troops marching down the Champs-glysee are those of the 110th Infantry Regiment.

On 10 September 1944, at 2000 hours, elements of the Division crossed the Our River and entered Ger- many, thus gaining the distinction of being the first American Division to enter Germany in force in World War II. The succeeding months saw the Division engaged in a series of bitter battles. The battle of the Hurtgen Forest, The Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) and the Colmar Pocket. The Battle of the Bulge began on a foggy 16 December when six German divisions smashed into the 28th which was stretched out along a twenty-five mile front in a "quiet sector". The next few days found the Division fighting for its life. Many died and many were captured, but the,force of the German attack was blunted and their time table was thrown off schedule long enough for the Allied forces to counter attack. Everyone was a front line soldier during that period and acts of heroism were common. Elements of the 112th Infantry Regiment were singled out for special recognition and were granted a Presidential unit citation.

VE-Day found the 28th in Western Germany near Kaiserslautern. Over 17,000 battle casualties, including 1,841 killed, were suffered by the Division as it fought its way through the five great campaigns of Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes and Central Europe. Once again the Division had earned a new nickname, for the Germans themselves had respectfully dubbed the bright red Keystone as the "Bloody Bucket Division".

With the war in Europe ended, many of the veteran members of the Division left its ranks to return to their homes and civillan lives. The 28th, however was to carry on in the war against Japan and it was for that purpose that the Division returned to Camp Shelby, Mississippi in the summer of 1945. VJ-Day changed those plans, and on 13 December 1945 the Division was inactivated after four years and ten months of active service.

In the Spring of 1946, meetings were held throughout Pennsylvania as the first steps in the reorganization of the 28th were undertaken. Units began their reorganization in June of 1946 and by 1947 the 28th was training at Indiantown Cap once again. Many of its officers and non-commissioned officers were veterans of the recently ended World War II and they quickly began to build the effective units that go to make up the Division. Added to the Division's ranks were the 628th Tank Battalion and the 899th AAA AW Bn, both of which had their origins in older Pennsylvania National Guard units.

The summer of 1950 saw the Division over 9,000 strong once again. June of the same yeax saw the start of the war in Korea. While the Division was at Indiantown Gap for its annual field training in July the call to active federal service came once again. On 5 September 1950, less than five years after its deactivation, the 28th was enroute to Camp Atterbury,Indiana.

Camp Atterbury will long be remembered for its bitter winter and the problems of training successive groups of recruits while carrying on unit training designed to perfect the Division's fighting ability. The climax of the 28th's stateside service in the Korean Emergency came during July and August of 1951 when the Division engaged in operation Southern Pines, a major maneuver conducted at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

The stay at Camp Atterbury following maneuver was short. Overseas shipment orders, this time to Germany were received. The first elements of the Division sailed on 12 November and by early December the 28th had taken its place as part of the United States NATO forces with units stationed from Augsburg, Leiplieim and Ulm on the south to Heilbronn in the north in southwestern Germany. Division headquarters was located it Goeppingen.

The Divisions mission in Germany was to be ready to fight without warning from December 1951 until May 1954. It trained and maneuvered at a grueling pace in an endeavor to be ready for any eventuality. On 26 May 1954 the 28th Infantry Division in Germany was redesignated the 9th Infantry Division.

During this period most of the division"s original members had returned to their Pennsylvania homes. And although the 28th in federal service was still in Germany the reorganization of the 28th Infantry Division in Pennsylvania began once again in June 1953. Starting from scratch for the third time in a little over thirty years the Division has grown rapidly once again. The Division colors were returned at the first post-Korean field training period at Indiantown Cap in August 1954 with over 5,000 members of the 28th massed on Muir Field. Each successive year has seen the Division grow in strength and proficiency.

This brings us back to the present. We have taken a brief look at the history of the 28th Infantry Division. The division as it stands today is a living part of Pennsylvania with units in over seventy communities and members in dozens more. It is made up of National Guardsmen. And National Guardsmen are still the volunteer citizen soldiers who carry on the traditions of the oldest military organizations in the United States.

The Red Keystone patch, the Colors and standards with their battle streamers, the guidons with their silverbands and the unit crests all help tell the story of the 28th Infantry Division. They represent history and the efforts of the thousands of men who helped write it. The members of today's 28th Infantry Division are devoted to the task of building a division ready for an emergency - one that is worthy of its proud heritage.