page_title: 116th Infantry Regiment (United States)
section_title: Interwar
hierarchical_section_title: 116th Infantry Regiment (United States) / History / Interwar
caption_attribution_description: English: Members of the “Farmville Guard”, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry standing guard at a bridge on the outskirts of Danville in the winter of 1930-1931. (Farmville Armory Collection)
context_page_description: The 116th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment in the Virginia Army National Guard.
  The regiment was formed as part of the Virginia Militia. It is one of several National Guard units with colonial roots. Units in its lineage included the Confederate Stonewall Brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. It was formed under the designation of the 116th during World War I, when previously existing Virginia National Guard units were consolidated in federal service. It fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive with the 29th Infantry Division and returned to the United States in 1919, where it was demobilized. It was reformed in 1922 and called back into federal service before the American entry into World War II in March 1941. It fought in the Normandy landings, on Omaha Beach, where it suffered heavy casualties. It served continuously with the 29th Infantry Division in its eastward advance until reaching the Elbe at the end of World War II in Europe.
  The regiment was inactivated in 1946 and was reformed in 1948. It was reorganized as part of the Combat Arms Regimental System in 1959, during which it became a parent regiment.
context_section_description: On 12 October 1921, former units of the regiment located in western Virginia became the 2nd Infantry in the Virginia National Guard. The regiment was redesignated on 9 March 1922 as the 116th Infantry and assigned to the 29th Division (later redesignated as the 29th Infantry Division). Its headquarters was federally recognized 3 April 1922 at Staunton. During the interwar period, the 116th conducted annual summer training at Virginia Beach between 1921 and 1938. Between November 1930 and January 1931, the regiment restored order during a strike of cotton mill workers in Danville. The location of Headquarters was changed on 26 June 1933 to Lynchburg. In August 1939, the regiment participated in First Army maneuvers at Manassas, which ended on 19 August. In August 1940, the regiment was transported by rail and truck to the First Army maneuvers at Pine Camp, the largest US Army maneuvers held in the interwar period at the time. After the maneuvers, which involved live fire and simulated air attacks, the 116th returned to home stations in the last week of August.
  On 3 February 1941, the regiment was called into federal service and its men reported to their armories for the next ten days. The regiment and the 29th Division were moved to Fort Meade on 13 February after being called into federal service. At this time the regiment absorbed many draftees from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Tennessee, among other states. The regiment conducted training for the next months. In June, the regiment and the division moved to A.P. Hill Military Reservation for training. From A.P. Hill the 116th and the rest of the division moved south by road to participate in the Carolina Maneuvers near Fort Bragg, reaching camp sites on 27 September. Between 6 and 17 October the 29th Division maneuvered against the 28th Infantry Division, and then as part of II Corps alongside the 28th and 44th Infantry Divisions. In the latter it faced elements of IV Corps and VI Corps. After the maneuvers concluded in late November the 116th returned to Fort Meade with the 29th by road.
caption: Members of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 116th Infantry, known as the Farmville Guard, guarding a bridge on the outskirts of Danville in the winter of 1930–1931.
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