29th Ranger Battalion (United States)

The 29th Provisional Ranger Battalion was a United States Army unit in World War II. Formed in December 1942 in England as a detachment of volunteers from the 29th Infantry Division, the battalion underwent commando training under British supervision and participated in raids on German installations, mostly in concert with No. 4 Commando. The battalion was disbanded in October 1943 and its men returned to their parent units.

However, during the 1970s a single company, B Company, 1/29th Infantry, was stationed at Kelly Hill at Fort Benning, Georgia. The company, on jump status, provided aggressor support for the United States Army's Ranger Department at all three Ranger Training camps (Darby, Dalonega and Camp Rudder in Florida). The unit's personnel originally wore the distinctive ranger black beret (this prior to the entire Army being given black berets) and later the newly authorized tan beret which replaced the Ranger black headgear. Those who graduated from Ranger School were authorized to sew a Ranger dress tab above the 1/29th Infantry teal blue "flash" with unit crest on the beret.

The company would be integrated by the Ranger Department in the early 1980s. A story ("Ranger Killers") on the unit appeared in an issue of "Gung Ho Magazine" written by former B Company ranger Greg Walker. The company was the last such Ranger unit outside of the Ranger Department and the then existing two Ranger Battalions (1st and 2nd)in the United States Army.

On Monday, 4 February 1943, ten officers and 166 enlisted men and NCOs of the 29th Infantry Division were sent to Achnacarry, Scotland. The British Commando instructors called this unit, which was undergoing Ranger training, the 2nd Ranger Battalion. However, another American unit also had that designation, so the Rangers in the battalion and the American staff officers called them the 29th Ranger Battalion, named after its division. Major Randy Millholland of the 115th Infantry Regiment, the battalion commanding officer, instructed his men to "keep their eyes and ears open and their mouths shut." Millholland, a tough, energetic officer, was widely respected. The Ranger trainees were immensely proud of their battalion and did not want to be sent back to their old units as instructors in Ranger tactics. Soon after the proud Rangers completed their training, two of them accompanied a raiding force of British Commandos during an attack on one of the Channel Islands. One of these Rangers covered the withdrawal of his group, killing three German soldiers and wounded several others. By the time of this raid, the 29th Battalion had grown to include four Ranger infantry companies and one headquarters company.

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