United States Army 24th Infantry Division (Victory Division)

U. S. ARMY 24TH INFANTRY DIVISION (VICTORY DIVISION) - The 24th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army.  It was inactivated in October 1996, it was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia and later reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas.  Formed during World War II from the disbanding Hawaiian Division, the division saw action throughout the Pacific theater, first fighting in New Guinea before landing on the Philippine islands of Leyte and Luzon, driving Japanese forces from them.  Following the end of the war, the division participated in occupation duties in Japan, and was the first division to respond at the outbreak of the Korean War.  For the first 18 months of the war, the division was heavily engaged on the front lines with North Korean and Chinese forces, suffering over 10,000 casualties.  It was withdrawn from the front lines to the reserve force for the remainder of the war, but returned to Korea for patrol duty at the end of major combat operations.

The United States Army's 24th Infantry Division has a special designation as the "Victory Division" from the Center for Military History. The 24th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia is a green taro leaf bordered in yellow, superimposed on a red circle that is bordered in black.  It symbolizes the Division's heritage in the Hawaiian Division.  Soldiers of the 24th ID are veterans of the Pacific Theater in WWII, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Persian Gulf.  In their service to the country, they have lived up to the division motto of "First to Fight!"

WWII Casualties

• Total battle casualties: 7,012
• Killed in action: 1,374
• Wounded in action: 5,621
• Missing in action: 11
• Prisoner of war: 6

After its deployment in the Korean War, the division was active in Europe and the United States during the Cold War, but saw relatively little combat until the Persian Gulf War, when it faced the Iraqi military.  A few years after that conflict, it was inactivated as part of the post-Cold War U.S. military draw down of the 1990s.  The division was reactivated in October 1999 as a formation for training and deploying U.S. Army National Guard units before its deactivation in October 2006.  Though it was inactivated, the division was initially identified as the third highest priority inactive division in the United States Army Center of Military History's lineage scheme due to its numerous accolades and long history.