355th Infantry Regiment ( United States ) The 355th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army . The 1st battalion of the regiment is still an active unit of the United States Army Reserve . History . The 355th Infantry was constituted on 5 August 1917 in the National Army ( USA ) and assigned to the 89th Division , which was organized under the provisions of the draft law of May 1917 . The unit was organized 27 August 1917 at Camp Funston , Kansas with the enlisted coming from the state of Nebraska , junior officers generally coming from Kansas , Missouri , and Colorado , and the senior officers coming from the regular army . The soldiers drilled ceaselessly over the next eight months despite a lack of adequate equipment , dreadful living conditions , and outbreaks of disease in the camps . On 21 May 1918 , the regiment left Camp Funston for New York and was encamped at Camp Mills , Long Island on 24 – 25 May . On 3 June the regiment entrained from Camp Mills and boarded the transport in Hoboken , New Jersey . They left for England and arrived at Liverpool in the early morning of 16 June . After a brief stay at Camp Woodley they marched to Southampton and boarded a small steamer for La Harve , France on 24 June . The soldiers conducted final training activities before boarding motor buses , a US Army first , and moved to the front near Beaumont on 4 August . The 1st battalion of the regiment was the first unit from the division to occupy any of the active front and on the night of 7 – 8 August was subjected to a severe gas shell bombardment . The unit continued on the front lines conducting raids , patrolling the enemy wire , capturing prisoners , and gathering information for the upcoming St . Mihiel offensive . On the morning of 12 September , after a fierce artillery barrage , the regiment advanced 20 kilometers capturing the villages of Euvezin , Boullionville , Beney , and Xammes along with a large number of prisoners and much war material . The unit stayed on the line until 8 October when it was relieved by elements of the 37th Division . They were given a much needed rest , received replacements , and were moved to the Argonne sector in preparation for another push . On 1 November a new offensive was begun with the regiment held in reserve . After two days of intense fighting the unit took up positions on the front lines to continue the advance taking Barricourt , Beaufort , Laneuville , Luzy , and Cesse before the armistice was signed on 11 November ending hostilities . On 24 November the regiment crossed the Meuse , Rhine , and Saar rivers to assume occupation duties in the German town of Saarburg . The regiment entered into a strenuous training period and at the final period of training received the highest rating for organizations in the division . On 23 April 1919 , General John J . Pershing and Secretary of War Newton D . Baker conducted a final review of the regiment near Trier before the unit was ordered back to the United States . Movement began on 9 May and the regiment arrived at Brest and embarked on the , then the largest ship afloat . The SS " Leviathan " entered New York Harbor on 22 May and the unit headed for Camp Funston where the regiment was demobilized between 1 – 3 June . During the interwar years the regiment was reconstituted on 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves and assigned to the 89th Division ( later redesignated as the 89th Infantry Division ) . In October 1921 it was organized with its headquarters at Omaha , Nebraska . On 15 July 1942 , the regiment and division were ordered to active military service and reorganized at Camp Carson , Colorado . They conducted basic combat training until May 1943 . During this time the Division was redesignated as the 89th Light Division . From May 1943 to May 1944 , the regiment conducted maneuvers with the division in Louisiana and Hunter Liggett Military Reservation , California . During these maneuvers it was determined that the “ Light Division ” concept was unsuitable so they turned in their mules for wheeled vehicles and on 15 June 1944 , the division was redesignated as the 89th Infantry Division . The unit began its last stateside training after moving to Camp Butner , North Carolina in May 1944 . The division was finally given orders to move to the European Theater of Operations ( ETO ) and embarked for New York in December 1944 . The original orders had called for the main units of the 89th Infantry Division to disembark in England , and complete further training there . The bloody days of the Battle of the Bulge were not long past and the Allied armies were making slow progress against the German Westwall and before Aachen . So the orders were changed to have the division land directly in France at Le Havre . The regiment left the United States on board the " SS Uruguay " on 10 January 1945 . The convoy in which they were part passed through the English Channel 19 January and anchored near the mouth of the Seine Estuary , within sight of Le Havre . After disembarking , the regiment was sent to Camp Lucky Strike , northwest of Le Havre , where it reorganized for combat operations . A member of Charlie Company , PFC Donald Sutton , was the first man of the division to lose his life to enemy action when he stepped on a mine near the camp . The division was ordered into the line in March and was in position by 11 March near Speicher , Germany . While in the Rhineland , their first action against the Germans was to secure the north and west banks of the Moselle River , one of the last two major natural obstacles defending the Reich , for follow - on crossing operations . A soldier from the Bravo Company was the first division member to fire his weapon in anger against the enemy . By 14 March the division effected a crossing and by 24 March reached the banks of the Rhine , Germany ’ s last natural barrier in the west . The division made its crossing at the town of St . Goar and once across the entire 355th Infantry Regiment moved forward to screen the division ’ s front . German resistance began to crumble once American forces crossed the Rhine and raced into Germany . At Ohrdruf , the regiment and elements of the 4th Armored Division captured the largest concentration camp liberated by American forces up to that time . At this point German resistance became disorganized and sporadic . The regiment moved swiftly to Zwickau , near the old Czechoslovakian frontier where it fought in the last action of the war for the division . It fell by 19 April and the unit ceased forward momentum for the last few weeks of the war . They conducted patrols to mop up small pockets of resistance that remained in the region . The German surrender became official one minute past midnight 9 May , however , this was tempered by the knowledge that occupation duties in Europe or shipment to the Pacific Theater was probable . On 27 May orders came down for the unit to leave Germany and move back to France in the vicinity of Le Havre . The regiment encamped at Camp Old Gold near Doudeville and started its new mission of processing the veterans of the ETO back to the United States . In total , the division processed 343 , 733 troops from 5 June to 1 September . That fall the regiment was transported back to the United States and it was finally inactivated 20 December 1945 , at Camp Kilmer , New Jersey . The regiment was activated 31 January 1947 , in the Organized Reserves with Headquarters at Omaha , Nebraska . The Organized Reserve Corps was redesignated as the Army Reserve on 9 July 1952 . On 1 October 1959 , the 355th Infantry Regiment was reorganized and redesignated the 355th Regiment and it became an element of the 89th Division ( Training ) . On 1 January 1975 , the 1st battalion fell under 5th Brigade ( Training ) . The 1st battalion was inactivated 15 October 1978 and was relieved from assignment to the 5th Brigade ( Training ) . On 17 October 1996 , the 4th Battalion 89th Field Artillery was redesignated the 1st Battalion 355th Regiment and it became an element of 1st Brigade , 95th Division ( Institutional Training ) . The 1st Battalion Headquarters is located in Round Rock , Texas . On 1 April 2008 , the 1st battalion was ordered to active duty in support of the War on Terrorism and assigned to the 434th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Sill near Lawton , Oklahoma . Lineage . Constituted 5 August 1917 in the National Army as the 355th Infantry and assigned to the 89th Division Organized 27 August 1917 at Camp Funston , Kansas Demobilized 1 – 3 June 1919 at Camp Funston , Kansas Reconstituted 24 June 1921 in the Organized Reserves as the 355th Infantry and assigned to the 89th Division ( later redesignated as the 89th Infantry Division ) Organized in October 1921 with Headquarters at Omaha , Nebraska Ordered into active military service 15 July 1942 and reorganized at Camp Carson , Colorado Inactivated 20 December 1945 at Camp Kilmer , New Jersey Activated 31 January 1947 in the Organized Reserves with Headquarters at Omaha , Nebraska ( Location of Headquarters changed 20 October 1952 to Lincoln , Nebraska ) Reorganized and redesignated 1 October 1959 as the 355th Regiment , an element of the 89th Division ( Training ) , with Headquarters at Lincoln , Nebraska Reorganized 31 January 1968 to consist of the 1st and 3d Battalions , elements of the 89th Division ( Training ) Reorganized 1 January 1975 to consist of the 1st and 3d Battalions , elements of the 5th Brigade ( Training ) 1st and 3d Battalions inactivated 15 October 1978 and relieved from assignment to the 5th Brigade ( Training ) 355th Regiment reorganized 17 October 1996 to consist of the 1st , 2d , and 3d Battalions , elements of the 95th Division ( Institutional Training ) Coat of arms . Crest . That for the regiments and separate battalions of the Army Reserve : On a wreath of the colors or and azure , the Lexington Minute Man proper . The statue of the minute Man , Captain John Parker , stands on the Common in Lexington , Massachusetts . Shield . Azure , on a bend or three alerions gules . Distinctive insignia . The insignia is the shield and motto of the coat of arms . The sample of the insignia was approved 27 June 1927 . Symbolism . The shield is blue for infantry . The bend and alerions are taken from the arms of Lorraine and commemorate service in France during World War I . The three alerions allude to the service in the St . Mihiel and Meuse - Argonne offensives and the Lorraine sector . Campaign streamers . World War I . St . Mihiel Meuse - Argonne Lorraine 1918 World War II . Rhineland Central Europe