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World War II 8th Infantry Division
Activated: 1 July 1940 at Camp Jackson, South Carolina
Trained at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in late 1942
Trained at Camp Laguna, Arizona, in 1943
Overseas: 5 December 1943
Campaigns:
Normandy
Northern France
Rhineland
Central Europe
Days of combat: 266.
Distinguished Unit Citations: 5
Awards: Medal of Honor – 3 ; Distinguished Service Cross (United States) – 33 ; Distinguished Service Medal (United States) – 2 ; Silver Star – 768; LM – 12 ; DFC – 2 ; SM – 24; BSM – 2,874; PH – 14,000 plus ; AM – 107.
Order of battle
Headquarters, 8th Infantry Division
13th Infantry Regiment
28th Infantry Regiment
121st Infantry Regiment
Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 8th Infantry Division Artillery
28th Field Artillery Battalion (155 mm)
43rd Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
45th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
56th Field Artillery Battalion (105 mm)
12th Engineer Combat Battalion
8th Medical Battalion
8th Cavalry Reconnaissance Troop (Mechanized)
Headquarters, Special Troops, 8th Infantry Division
Headquarters Company, 8th Infantry Division
708th Ordnance Light Maintenance Company
8th Quartermaster Company
8th Signal Company
Military Police Platoon
Band
8th Counterintelligence Corps Detachment
Casualties
Total battle casualties: 13,986[8]
Killed in action: 2,532[8]
Wounded in action: 10,057[8]
Missing in action: 729[8]
Prisoner of war: 668[8]
Assignments in the European Theater of Operations
30 November 1943: Attached to First Army.
24 December 1943: XV Corps.
1 July 1944: VIII Corps, attached to First Army.
1 August 1944: VIII Corps, Third Army, 12th Army Group.
5 September 1944: VIII Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group.
22 October 1944: VIII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.
19 November 1944: V Corps.
18 December 1944: VII Corps.
20 December 1944: Attached, with the entire First Army, to the British 21st Army Group.
22 December 1944: XIX Corps, Ninth Army (attached to British 21st Army Group), 12th Army Group.
3 February 1945: VII Corps, First Army, 12th Army Group.
2 April 1945: XVIII (Abn) Corps.
26 April 1945: XVIII (Abn) Corps, Ninth Army, 12th Army Group, but attached for operations to the British Second Army in the British 21st Army Group.
Medals of Honor
Three soldiers of the 8th Division were awarded the Medal of Honor in World War II.
Private First Class Ernest Prussman, 13th Infantry Regiment. Prussman took over his squad on 8 September 1944 during the advance on Les Coates [wrong transliteration of Loscoat, near Brest] in Brittany, and disarmed several Germans, including a machine gun crew. Shot by a German rifleman, his dying act was to unleash a hand grenade that killed the man who shot him. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously.
Private First Class Walter C. Wetzel, 13th Infantry Regiment. As acting squad leader in the regimental Anti-Tank Company, PFC Wetzel defended his platoon's command post from an enemy attack on 3 April 1945. Wetzel threw himself on either 1 or 2 enemy grenades (sources vary) thrown into the C.P. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously.
Staff Sergeant John W. Minick, Company I, 121st Infantry Regiment. After his battalion was halted by enemy minefields during an advance on 21 November 1944 during the Hurtgen fighting, he led four men through the obstacle, then successfully destroyed an enemy machine gun post that had opened fire on the small party. Moving forward again, he single-handedly engaged an entire company of enemy soldiers, killing 20 men and capturing 20 more. Resuming the advance, he tried to scout through another minefield, but detonated a mine in the attempt. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously.
