Existing comment:
War in the Pacific:
When Congress declared war on Japan, National Guardsmen were already in combat overseas. In the Philippines, New Mexico's 200th Coast Artillery (AA) valiantly defended Clark Field against Japanese attacks on December 8, 1941. Two Guard tank battalions representing eight states fought on the Bataan Peninsula until U.S. forces surrendered in April [pasted on] 1942.
The 32nd (Michigan and Wisconsin) and 41st (Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington) Divisions sailed for the Pacific and became the first Army infantry divisions to engage and defeat the Japanese. Both of these divisions served in New Guinea, the Philippines, and Luzon. They were joined by the 31st Division (Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi), the 38th Division (Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia) and 43rd Division (Maine, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island).
During the first years of the war in the Pacific, the 164th Infantry (North Dakota) entered combat on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in October 1942. In was joined by the 132nd Infantry (Illinois) and the 182nd Infantry (Massachusetts). All three were organized into the core of the Americal Division, the Guard's 19th World War II division, and the only Army division in WWII to have a name instead of a number. National Guard troops were active in the Pacific until the end of the war. |