Mayumi's Moveable Feast

The Americal Division

1. Quick history, from the Americal Division Veterans Association website http://www.americal.org/narrtive.shtml. -- link broken -- needs to be fixed.

   a. The Americal Division had its origin in Task Force 6813, formed January 14, 1942, with the mission of occupying and defending New Caledonia. Task Fork 6813 was disbanded May 27, 1942, once the Americal Division was up and running.

   b. Guadalcanal ground offensive: The 164th Infantry (North Dakota) arrived on Guadalcanal on October, 13, 1942, under air attack. Division headquarters and the 132nd (Illinois) landed on Guadalcanal on December 8, 1942. The 35th Regiment Infantry Division relieved the 132nd Infantry Regiment, in early 1943. The 132nd reached Tenaro Village by February 9, 1943, and that ended the Guadalcanal ground struggle. Note: the Soloman Islands are a group of small French-colonial islands in the south Pacific, just off the northeast coast of Australia. The largest island is a province of the Solomon Islands called Guadalcanal. Henderson Air Base is on the north-central coast of that Solomon island, Guadalcanal.

   c. Bougainville: the division moved to the Fiji Islands in March / April, 1943, and the Americal Division moved to Bougainville in December, 1943 - January, 1944, first the 182nd Infantry Regiment (Massachusetts) and then the 132nd Infantry Regiment. The division was relieved by the Australian 3rd Division on December 10, 1944, and the division conducted amphibious training and prepared to move to the Philippines.

   d. Philippines: the division moved to the Philippines in January, 1945. The following units are mentioned by the veterans’ association: the 1st Battalion, 182nd Infantry Regiment; the 1st Battalion, 132nd Infantry Regiment; the 3rd Battalion, 164th Infantry Regiment.

   e. Japan: the division, with its three infantry regiments (132nd, 182nd, and the 164th) trained for the invasion of Japan (which was not necessary). The division took part in the occupation of Japan and was deactivated December 12, 1945. The division landed in Japan on September 10, 1945, and took part in the occupation of the Yokohama-Kawasaki_Yokosuka area.

2. From the web, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americal_Division, November 11, 2006

The Americal Division of the United States Army was formed in May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia. In the immediate emergency following Pearl Harbor, the United States had hurriedly sent three individual regiments to defend New Caledonia against a feared Japanese attack. These were the 132d Infantry Regiment of the Illinois National Guard, the 164th Infantry Regiment from North Dakota, and the 182d Infantry Regiment from Massachusetts. For morale purposes, the Army decided to form these units into a new division.

At the suggestion of a subordinate, the division's commander, Major General Alexander Patch, requested that the new unit be known as the Americal Division—the name being a contraction of "America" and "New Caledonia." This was unusual, as most U.S. divisions are known by a number.

Under the command of Patch, the Americal Division was the first US Army unit to be sent to Guadalcanal, where it relieved the exhausted US 1st Marine Division, and carried the brunt of the fighting on the island from that time on.

Largely because of transport constraints, the Americal arrived piecemeal, and was fed into combat alongside the battle-hardened Marines, and thus, in contrast to several other US Army divisions in the Pacific War, was able to learn the practical art of war against the Japanese without suffering as many casualties as might otherwise have eventuated. Despite its ad-hoc formation, the Americal Division fought well at Guadalcanal, the 164th Regiment taking on a key role in the defeat of the major Japanese offensive in October 1942, and historians describe it as the most effective of all the US Army divisions in that conflict.

Later in World War II the Americal Division (alongside the 37th Infantry Division, a Marine defense battalion, and supporting units) took up positions on the newly invaded island of Bougainville, and warned by intelligence of the storm to come, utterly defeated a massive and sustained Japanese counter-attack, which began on 7 March 1944. Despite ample warning and thorough defensive preparations, the battle soon degenerated into a bitter, close-quarters infantry affair, with artillery restricted by the need to avoid friendly troops and tanks unable to reach the scene. The 37th and Americal Divisions stood firm, and by March 25, the Japanese were forced to retreat. It was the last Japanese ground offensive in the South Pacific.

The Division was deactivated at the end of the war.

It was reactivated on December 1, 1954 as the 23d Infantry Division, retaining the name "Americal" as part of its official designation, and served in the Panama Canal Zone until April 10, 1956, when it was again deactivated.

The Division was reactivated in 1967 in Vietnam. A division-sized task force known as TASK FORCE OREGON was created in Quang Ngai Province with brigades from the 25th Infantry Division and 101st Airborne Division, to operate in close cooperation with the 1st Marine Division. As new U.S. brigades arrived in Vietnam, they were assigned to Task Force Oregon, which was re-designated the 23rd Infantry Division (Americal). The Division was composed of the 11th, 196th, and 198th Light Infantry Brigades and divisional support units. The Division acquired a negative reputation in Vietnam, in part because it had been pieced together from separate brigades without prior combat experience and inadequate unit training.

One of the companies of the 11th LIB (C Company, 1st Battalion 20th Infantry), with Lieutenant William Calley as a platoon leader, was responsible for the My Lai Massacre.

Another company, part of the 196th LIB, suffered severe casualties when overrun by Vietnamese sapper units at Firebase Maryann in March 1971, further embarrassing the division. The aftermath of the attack resulted in the relief of the brigade and division commanders.

The 198th and 11th Brigades were withdrawn from Vietnam in November, 1971, and the Division was deactivated. The 196th Brigade was reconstituted as a separate brigade and remained in Vietnam until June 29, 1972, the last major combat unit to be withdrawn. Its 3d Battalion 21st infantry was the last battalion to leave Vietnam, on August 23, 1972.

Both Generals H. Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell served in the Americal Division in Vietnam, in 1967-68 and 1968-69 respectively. American author Tim O'Brien served in the Americal division from 1969-1970. [Tim O’Brien, in Going After Cacciato, says he was in the 5th Battalion, 46th Infantry, 198th Infantry Brigade.]

The division used a dark blue shield-shaped patch bearing the four stars making up the constellation Crux or Southern Cross.

3. The following from the Americal Division Veterans Association website, http://www.americal.org/narrtive.shtml, November 12, 2006 -- again, this link is broken; needs to be fixed. Perhaps this for now: http://2-1-196th.com/httpdocs/Sub_Htms/History-23rd-Infantry.htm.

The Americal Division was reactivated on 1 December 1954, officially redesignated the 23rd Infantry Division (AMERICAL) and served for almost a year and a half until 10 April 56 with headquarters in the Canal Zone. It was reactivated again when Gen. William C. Westmoreland, needing an infantry division in Vietnam but aware that none would be arriving from the United States for some time, and conscious of the AMERICAL Division's relationship with the 1st Marine Division in World War II, decided to reactivate the army division to operate in the northern coastal sector adjacent to the Marines. He first established a headquarters known as Task Force OREGON and, as additional troops arrived, transformed the task force into the AMERICAL Division. Because the Department of the Army policy required that divisions be numbered, the division was known officially as the 23rd Infantry Division (AMERICAL) and was reactivated as such in Vietnam on 25 September 1967. MACV, however, preferred the name AMERICAL, listed it as such in numerous official orders, called it "the Army's only named division on active service," and used the vehicle bumper abbreviation AMCAL. In Vietnam the rugged terrain of southern I Corps tactical zone was used by the division for its encampment at Chu Lai. This ran the gamut from marshy, coastal lowlands to triple-canopy jungle on steep mountain slopes. The AMERICAL Division battled the strong enemy influence in both Quang Nam and Quang Tri Provinces 11 Nov 67 - 11 Nov 68 in Operation WHEELER/WALLOWA with two of its brigades. Another brigade was sent to Quang Ngai Province in early 68. During 69 and 70 the division continued to fight in the Duc Pho, Chuy Lai and Tam Ky areas along the coast. In November 71 the division was deactivated and the 196th Infantry Brigade became separate. The 23rd Infantry Division (AMERICAL) served a total of 1,526 days in Vietnam.

Many sites now available on the internet, including:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26921021.

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3rd Cavalry Regiment

Link here.

While unpacking boxes from San Pedro, CA, we ran across two "military coffee mugs," inscribed with "Kathy Garcia" and "Flavio Garcia."

The patch on both mugs was that of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment, "Brave Rifles."

I'll post a picture of the coffee mugs later.

Most likely these were acquired while Flavio and family were stationed in Germany.

May was born in 1949. I don't recall that she ever said the family was stationed at Ft Meade, MD, but they at assignments in Germany. From wiki:

When 3rd Cavalry returned to the United States from Germany in February 1958, and was once again stationed at Fort Meade. The regiment became part of the Strategic Army Corps (STRAC) and, from 1958 to 1961, it was the recipient of four STRAC streamers, awarded for superior readiness and training.
In November 1961, the regiment was deployed to Germany once again in response to the Soviet threat during the Berlin Crisis. The troopers were stationed in Kaiserslautern but the unit soon found itself once again patrolling the border. Cavalry Troops within the regiment were soon attached on a monthly, rotating basis to the 14th Armored Cavalry Regiment to assist with patrols in the 3/14 ACR sector. Additionally, the 1st and 2nd Squadrons relieved units of the 14th Cavalry for two one-month periods during 1962 and 1963. During 1964, though, the regiment played a larger role in border operations.
Since the 11th Cavalry was scheduled to return to the U.S. in the summer of 1964, a unit was needed to fill the gap along the Iron Curtain in southeastern Bavaria. To meet this requirement, the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry, was re-designated as the 1st Squadron, 11 ACR, and rotated back to the states with the 11th Cavalry. At the same time, the 11th Cavalry's 1st Squadron stationed in Straubing was re-designated as 2nd Squadron, 3rd Cavalry, and conducted border operations under the regimental colors of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment. The unit conducted border operations from its two border camps until March 1965 when it was relieved by 2/9th Cavalry of the 24th Infantry Division. The regiment remained in Germany until July 1968 when it moved to Fort Lewis, Washington. The 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment participated in the Return of Forces to Germany (REFORGER) exercise 1 during 1968 and REFORGER 2 during July and August 1971.

May remembers Germany well, and particularly Patch Barracks. In 1961, May would have been twelve years old, sixth grade. In Germany through 1965, May would have been sixteen years old, again, coinciding with stories May has told.

I will have to ask May if the family was ever stationed in Fort Lewis, Washington.

By 1971, May was in college, and her dad was getting ready for retirement about that time, having served two tours in Vietnam.

If Flavio entered service in 1944 and and served 30 years, he would have retired in / about 1974, which again fits the dates. May graduated from high school in 1967 and from UCLA (undergraduate) in 1971.

At Stuttgart (Patch Barracks), Flavio may have been part of 7th Army. Again, I will have to confirm with May, but it's likely, Flavio's first tour of Vietnam followed their tour of Germany (Stuttgart / Patch Barracks). While in Vietnam, the May moved with her mom and brothers to San Pedro. She attended high school in Stuttgart (?) and upon relocation to southern California, she attended UCLA as an undergraduate.