96th Infantry Division (United States)

96th Infantry Division
Shoulder sleeve insignia
Active	1942 – 46, 1946 –
Country	United States
Branch	U.S. Army (Reserve)
Type	Sustainment brigade
Nickname(s)	"Deadeye Division"
Engagements	World War II *Battle of Okinawa Battle of Leyte NATO intervention in Bosnia *SFOR *KFOR GWOT *Operation Enduring Freedom *Operation Iraqi Freedom
Decorations	Presidential Unit Citation
Commanders
Commander	COL Robert Moriarty
Notable commanders	James L. Bradley Claudius M. Easley Ray D. Free Paul V. Kane

The 96th Sustainment Brigade, is a unit of the United States Army that inherited the lineage of the 96th Infantry Division that served in World War II. Effective 17 September 2008, the unit became the 96th Sustainment Brigade, with its headquarters located at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The division was first organized on 20 October 1918, during the U.S. mobilization for World War I. Based at Camp Wadsworth, South Carolina, the 96th was one of the last divisions activated and the war ended before it could be sent overseas. It was thus demobilized on 7 January 1919.

The 96th Division was reconstituted in the United States Army Reserve, then called the Organized Reserves, on 24 June 1921. The 96th was located in Portland, Oregon.

The 96th Division was put back into the active US Army on 15 August 1942, just eight months after the Attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.

As part of the reorganization of the U.S. Army divisions from "square" to "triangular," the two infantry brigade headquarters were converted to provide personnel for other units and the 380th Infantry Regiment was disbanded. The 192nd Infantry Brigade headquarters company was converted into the division's 96th Reconnaissance Troop, while the 191st Infantry Brigade headquarters formed the core of the division's headquarters company. After initial training at Camp White in southern Oregon, the 96th Infantry Division participation in the Oregon Maneuver combat exercise in the fall of 1943.

The division trained in Hawaiian Islands from July to September 1944 before entering combat in an assault landing in Leyte Gulf, Philippine Islands, between Tanauan and Dulag, 20 October 1944. Enemy resistance in the beachhead area was quickly broken and the division had advanced to and secured the Tanauan-Dagami-Tabontabon sector by 9 November after heavy fighting. The division continued to wipe out resistance on the island, engaging in small unit actions, patrolling, probing, and wiping out pockets of Japanese. Chalk Ridge was taken 12 December 1944, and major organized resistance was at an end by Christmas Day. The next three months were spent in mopping up, security duty, training, and loading for the coming invasion of Okinawa.