V Corps | |
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V Corps Shoulder Sleeve Insignia
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Active | 1918–1919 1922–1924 1940–2013 |
Country | United States |
Branch | United States Army |
Type | Headquarters |
Nickname(s) | "Victory Corps" |
Motto(s) | It Will Be Done |
March | "Victory!" |
Decorations |
Meritorious Unit Commendation (2), Army Superior Unit Award (2) |
Campaigns |
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U.S. Corps (1939 - Present) | |
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IV Corps (United States) | VI Corps (United States) |
V Corps was a regular corps of the United States Army during World War I, World War II, Cold War, Kosovo, and War on Terrorism. It was officially inactivated on September 15, 2013 at Lucius D. Clay Kaserne, Germany.
V Corps was organized July 7–12, 1918 in the Regular Army in France, as part of the American Expeditionary Forces. By the end of World War I, the Corps had fought in three named campaigns.
The corps's shoulder patch, a pentagon whose points lie on an imaginary circle 2 1/8 inches (5.40 cm) in diameter whose edges are white lines 3/16 inch (.48 cm) in width and whose radial lines are white 1/8 inch (.32 cm) in width, was approved on December 3, 1918. The triangles thus outlined in white are flag blue. The pentagon represents the number of the Corps, while blue and white are the colors associated with Corps flags.
After Nazi Germany declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941, the corps deployed (January 1942) the first American soldiers to the European Theater of Operations, United States Army. That initial deployment was known as the U.S. Army Northern Ireland Force or MAGNET. On June 6, 1944, V Corps assaulted Omaha Beach, Normandy. Corps soldiers then broke out from the beachhead, liberated Paris and Sedan, Ardennes, and raced to the German border. After liberating Luxembourg, V Corps fought in the Battle of the Bulge, captured Leipzig, made first contact with the Red Army at Torgau, and, south in Czechoslovakia, liberated Plzeň by May 1945.