History of the 2nd Infantry Division
- Feb 12
- 10 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
2nd Infantry Division - A short history
Since the 1960s, the 2nd Infantry Division has been responsible for defending South Korea against potential invasion from North Korea. Currently, the 2nd ID/ROK-US Combined Division is the U.S. Army's only permanently forward-stationed division. This video is a short history of the 2nd Infantry Division.
Known as the Indianhead or Warrior Division, the 2nd Infantry Division gets its nickname from its distinctive shoulder patch—a white star set on a black shield displaying a Native American chief's head. The Indianhead symbolizes the division's resolve, power, and warrior spirit. Both the White Star and Black Shield are traditional heraldic elements, signifying protection, authority, and strength.
The 2nd Infantry Division was formed during the First World War in Bourmont, France, in October 1917. Upon activation, the Indianhead Division comprised one Army infantry brigade and one Marine brigade. As a result, the division was commanded by Marine generals on two occasions during the war, marking the only time in U.S. military history where an Army division was led by a Marine Corps officer.
The 2nd Infantry Division trained during the winter 1917-18. Despite doubts about their readiness, the Division joined combat in June 1918 at Belleau Wood to help stop the German advance toward Paris. The Division fought at Chateau-Thierry, Soissons, Mont Blanc, and during the Meuse-Argonne campaign. After the Armistice on November 11, 1918, the division was on occupation duty Germany until April 1919, then returned to the United States in July.
During the Interwar period, the 2nd Infantry Division was stationed at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where it served as an experimental unit, testing Army innovations. It underwent intensive training, including the Louisiana Maneuvers in August 1941 and winter training at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin in November 1942. On October 8, 1943, the division departed from New York for Belfast, then moved to Wales, to prepare for the invasion of Europe.
Operation Overlord, the World War Two invasion of France by the Allies, began on June 6, 1944. The Second Infantry Division landed on Omaha Beach on D-day plus one, June 7th. The Division attacked across the Aure River, liberating the town of Trevieres on June 10th. The Warrior Division continued to fight through the hedgerow country of Normandy, ending their participation in the campaign with an assault on the heavily defended port city of Brest on September 18, 1944.
The 2nd Infantry Division took up defensive positions at St. Vith, Belgium on September 29, 1944. They entered Germany on October 3rd and were tasked with seizing the Roer River dams on December 11. After breaking through the Siegfried Line, their advance was halted by the German offensive in the Ardennes, forcing a withdrawal to Elsenborn. During the Battle of the Bulge, the Division held crucial roads to Liege and Antwerp. They resumed their attack on February 6, 1945, reached the Rhine on March 9, and crossed it on March 21st.
Transferred from the First Army to Patton's Third Army, the 2nd Infantry Division spent their last days of the war in Europe conducting a dash across Czechoslovakia, finally halting in the town of Pilsen on VE Day, May 8, 1945. The Indianhead Division returned to the U.S. and arrived at Camp Swift, Texas on July 22, 1945. There the Warrior Division began to prepare for the invasion of Japan, but they were still at Camp Swift on VJ Day, September 2, 1945. During WWII, the 2 nd ID had participated in five campaigns for a total of 303 days of combat. They moved to their new home base at Fort Lewis, Washington in April 1946.
The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when the North Korean Army invaded the South. The 2nd Infantry Division was quickly alerted and arrived in Pusan, South Korea on July 23, 1950, becoming the first unit to reach Korea directly from the United States. Like all units early to arrive in Korea, the 2 nd ID was employed piecemeal to stem the tide of the invading Communists. The entire division was committed as a unit on August 24th, relieving the 24th Infantry Division at the Naktong River Line. A sixteen-day battle began on the night of August 31, 1950, that required the Warrior Division's clerks, band, and logistics personnel to join in the fight to hold the "Pusan Perimeter."
On September 16, 1950, one day after the Inchon Landing, the 2nd Infantry Division was the first unit to break out of the Pusan Perimeter. The Indianhead Division led the Eighth Army drive all the way to the Manchurian Border. The Division was within fifty miles of the border when Chinese forces entered the fight, first encountering American troops on November 1, 1950. The 2nd Infantry Division was given the mission of protecting the rear and right flank of the Eighth Army as it retreated south. Fighting around Kunu-ri cost the 2nd ID nearly one-third of its strength but was ten times more costly to the enemy.
On January 31, 1951, the 2nd Infantry Division stopped the Chinese winter offensive at Wonju, holding back repeated counter-attacks through February and helping to secure the United Nations’ defensive line. In April and May of that year, the division was instrumental in defeating the communist spring offensive, an achievement for which they were awarded a Presidential Unit Citation. Throughout the remainder of the Korean War, the Indianhead Division alternated between rest periods and combat operations, taking part in significant battles like Bloody Ridge and Heartbreak Ridge. Major combat ended with a ceasefire agreement on July 27, 1953. On August 20, 1954, four years after it arrived in Korea, the 2nd Infantry Division was alerted for redeployment to the United States.
The 2nd Infantry Division returned to Fort Lewis, Washington, where it remained for only
two years. In 1956 the Division was transferred to Alaska, then to Fort Benning, Georgia, where the Division remained from 1958 to 1965. They were initially assigned as a training division. But in March 1962 the Division was designated as a Strategic Army Corps (STRAC) unit. Following this designation the Indianhead Division engaged in intensified combat training and field training exercises, in addition to special training designed to improve operational readiness.
As a result of the formation of the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) at Fort Benning in 1965, the 2nd Infantry Division's stateside units were reassigned to the new division and the existing 1st Cavalry Division in Korea took on the title of the 2nd Infantry Division. Thus, the division formally returned to Korea in July 1965. North Korean forces were engaging in increasing border incursions and infiltration attempts and the 2nd Infantry Division was called upon to help halt these attacks. On November 2, 1966, soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment were killed in an ambush by North Korean forces. In 1967 enemy attacks in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) increased. As a result, 16 American soldiers were killed that year. North Korean probes across the DMZ continued in 1968. In 1969, four soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment were killed while on patrol.
On August 18, 1976, during a routine tree-trimming operation within the DMZ, two American officers of the Joint Security Force were axed to death in a melee with North Korean border guards that was called the Axe Murder Incident. What resulted was known as Operation Paul Bunyan. The 2nd Infantry Division was chosen to support the United Nations Command response to this incident and on August 21, a task force from the 2d ID, along with Republic of Korean (ROK) soldiers, swept into the area and cut down the infamous "Panmunjom Tree." The 2nd Infantry Division had delivered an unmistakable message to the North Koreans.
Throughout the 1980s, soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Division continued to patrol along the DMZ. Warrior Division soldiers left the DMZ in 1991, but remained forward deployed along the most heavily defended frontier in the world. In 1994, the death of the North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung, issued in a period of increased tensions on the Korean Peninsula, now with the North threatening nuclear development. The 2nd Infantry Division is still stationed in Korea, with several camps near the DMZ. The Indianhead Division faces a real threat. One of the largest armies in the world sits just across the DMZ. The fighting stopped in 1953, but the Korean War never officially ended.
Beginning in 1995, the 2nd Infantry Division began changing to reflect the modularization of the U.S. Army. This included replacing a two-maneuver brigade formation with a structure of four Brigade Combat Teams (BCT). While the 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, the Combat Aviation Brigade, Division Fires Brigade and various support troops remain in Korea, three additional BCTs have been formed in the United States. The 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team was moved from Korea to Fort Carson, Colorado, and is structured like a traditional reinforced mechanized infantry brigade. The 3rd and 4th Brigades were re-activated at Fort Lewis, Washington and have fielded the Stryker Armored Vehicle. The Stryker Brigade Combat Teams bridge the gap between the heavy mechanized infantry formations and light infantry units.
While the main mission of the Indianhead Division is the defense of South Korea, subordinate 2 nd Infantry Division units deployed in support of the Global War on Terror. Between November 2003 and November 2004, the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team deployed from Fort Lewis, Washington to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. During its time in Iraq, the team effectively demonstrated both the combat and logistical advantages of the Stryker brigade concept. In late spring 2004, soldiers of the 2d Brigade Combat Team received orders for deployment to Iraq. Given the short notice, the brigade undertook extensive training to transition from defending South Korea to conducting offensive operations required in Iraq, deploying in August 2004.
The 2d BCT assumed command of the sparsely populated areas south and west of Fallujah before refocusing its mission on the eastern sector of Ar-Ramadi—a volatile city at the time. The unit prioritized gaining local support while minimizing casualties throughout its deployment. In Ramadi, the brigade operated under the 1st Marine Division, and the 2nd Marine Division during the second half of the deployment. As such, soldiers of the 2d BCT are authorized to wear either 1st or 2nd Marine Division, or the Indianhead patch, as their combat patch. In July 2005, the brigade was relieved by units from the 3rd Infantry Division and notified of their reassignment from Korea to Fort Carson, Colorado.
From June 2006 to September 2007, the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team again deployed from Fort Lewis to Iraq, where it supported Iraqi security forces in counter-insurgency operations within Ninewa Province. The formation of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2d ID, took place at Fort Lewis on June 1, 2006. From April 2007 to July 2008, the 4th SBCT participated in stabilizing operations, assuming responsibility for the area north of Baghdad and Diyala province.
Between October 2006 and January 2008, the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team deployed from Fort Carson, to assist the Multi-National Division – Baghdad. Their responsibilities included aiding Iraqi forces attain self-reliance, reducing violence and insurgency, and supporting infrastructure construction efforts. The 3rd Brigade completed its third deployment to Iraq in August 2009—more than any other Stryker Brigade Combat Team. The Division’s 4th Brigade Combat Team also deployed to Iraq in fall 2009.
In February 2009, the 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team was ordered to Afghanistan as part of the troop surge supporting Operation Enduring Freedom. The brigade served in southeastern Afghanistan, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. In July 2010, it was reflagged as the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, with its Special Troops Battalion also reflagged. The 3rd SBCT deployed to Afghanistan in December 2011 for a one-year tour, followed shortly thereafter by the 2nd SBCT in spring 2012. The 2nd Brigade redeployed
beginning in December 2012. The 4th Stryker BCT undertook its initial Afghanistan deployment in fall 2012 and returned in summer 2013.
Today, the primary mission of the 2nd Infantry Division continues to be the defense of South Korea. Like all U.S. military units, the purpose of the Division is to deter war. Should that deterrence fail, the soldiers of the Warrior Division are ready to defend "Freedom's Frontier." As in their history, the soldiers that wear the Indianhead patch will live up to their motto, "Second to None."
Books by Jim Travis Broumley
The Boldest Plan is the Best
In the fall of 1941, as the U.S. Army scrambled to prepare for the war they knew was coming, a new kind of soldier was training with a new way of getting to the battlefield – the paratrooper. The first to deploy to England and the first to jump into combat, while their more celebrated airborne brothers were still training in the States. This is the story of the 509th PIB
The Bridge at El Djem
Tunisia, 1942
Paratroopers Lieutenant Jack Bell and lead scout Corporal Roland “Rube” Roubideaux might be the only survivors out of their platoon after a failed mission to blow up a bridge behind enemy lines. Now they're going back to finish the job, tagging along with a detachment of British SAS desert commandos.
The Avellino Jump
Avellino Province, Italy, 1943 Paratroopers Lt Jack Bell and Sgt Rube Roubideaux, jumped with their battalion behind German lines in Italy to take pressure off the Allies’ tenuous hold on the Salerno beachhead. But they are given an additional mission by Col Addington, the mysterious OSS officer. They need to complete their battalion’s mission while also getting an Italian scientist safely to American lines. But first they need to outwit a fanatic Nazi officer and an Italian playing both sides.
The War in VenafroNaples, Italy 1943 Lt Jack Bell is reunited with his cousin Nadia. The only problem: she is now the head of an organized crime family, and threatens to pull Jack and his friend Captain “Doc” Allen into her world to stop an American deserter from taking over. Meanwhile, friction grows between the veteran paratroopers and some of the new men, will everyone be able to work together to fight the Germans?
AnzioAnzio Italy, 1944 - 1LT Jack Bell and his fellow paratroopers prepare to make a beach landing in Italy. The problem is that the civilians in Naples know where they’re going before they do. Along with everything else, Jack is put in the position of escorting OSS officer Boyd Carter on a raid of a German held blockhouse to “capture” an old friend. Now Carter is wounded and Jack is a prisoner. Can Jack’s friends and their green platoon leader mount an unauthorized rescue?
Operation DragoonCpt Jack Bell and the rest of the 509th PIB jumped into Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon. Before the battalion can move out to attack the Germans in Le Muy, Maj Boyd Carter shows up with a mission for Jack. Rescue an Air Corps major, nine miles behind the lines and hidden by a group of French Resistance fighters. The Geronimos are outnumbered, but "Rube" Roubideaux has a plan to even the odds.
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