97th Infantry Division ( United States ) The 97th Infantry Division was a unit of the United States Army in World War I and World War II . World War I . The division was activated 5 September 1918 and inactivated 20 November 1918 ; one infantry regiment ( 303d ) served with the 76th Division . World War II . Combat chronicle . The 97th Infantry Division landed at Le Havre , France , 2 March 1945 , and moved to Camp Lucky Strike . On 28 March , the division crossed the German border west of Aachen and took up a defensive position along the west bank of the Rhine River opposite Düsseldorf , engaging in patrolling . The 97th entered the battle of the Ruhr pocket , crossing the Rhine near Bonn , 3 April , and taking up a position on the southern bank of the Sieg River . It crossed that river , 7 April , with the troops suffering 80 % casualties in wounded and dead . However , many of the survivors credit their lives to Pfc . John Hedrick , who took control of an abandoned boat and made sure the survivors crossed the river safely . He received the Silver Star for his valiant efforts . There was a building marked by a red cross which the 97th assumed was a hospital and therefore , did not attack it . In fact , it was a factory that made German 88 ' s . The Germans had tunnels dug there and after the troops got up on land , past the river , the Germans came up behind them . They then shot at the Americans from both directions . It fought a street - to - street engagement in Siegburg on 10 April . After Siegburg , they captured Cologne ( Koeln ) Germany . Pushing on toward Düsseldorf through difficult terrain and heavy resistance in densely wooded areas , the division captured Solingen on 17 April . The Germans cut down trees to impede the infantry ' s advance , thus blocking the roads in the woods . Düsseldorf fell on the next day and the Ruhr pocket was eliminated . The infantry drove through Düsseldorf , waiting for the Germans to shoot at them ; then they would find the pockets of Germans and shoot at them to flush them out . On 23 April elements of the 97th , together with members of the 90th Infantry Division , liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp near Floß in Bavaria . A Military Police patrol from the 303rd Infantry Regiment may have been the first U . S . Army unit to reach the camp , although the 2nd Cavalry Group , Mechanized as well as a colonel from the 90th later took credit for liberating the camp . Members of the 97th Division treated sick and dying prisoners and buried the several hundred corpses discovered in the camp . Brigadier General Halsey inspected the camp as did General Sherman V . Hasbrouck , the commanding officer of the division artillery . Members of the Counter Intelligence Corps , which included Robie Macauley , Ib Melchior and Anthony Hecht , interviewed former prisoners and gathered evidence for trials of former camp officers and guards . The 97th also liberated Helmbrechts concentration camp , a sub - camp of Flossenbürg for female prisoners . On 25 April the division entered Ash , Czechoslovakia . Moving to protect the left flank of the Third Army on its southern drive , the 97th took Cheb , Czechoslovakia , on 25 April 1945 and attacked the Czechoslovak pocket near Weiden , Germany , on 29 April . It had advanced to Konstantinovy Lázně , Czechoslovakia , when it received the cease - fire order on 7 May . Part of the division was in Teplá where the German 2nd Panzer Division had surrendered . The troops used the monastery there as a POW camp for the Germans . The division left for Le Havre , 16 June 1945 , for redeployment to the Pacific , arriving at Cebu , Philippine Islands , 16 September , and then sailed to Japan for occupation duty , arriving at Yokohama on 23 September 1945 . 97th Infantry Division was credited with firing the last official shot in the European Theatre of Operations during World War II . This shot was fired by PFC Domenic Mozzetta of Company B , 387th Infantry Regiment , 97th Division , at a German sniper near Klenovice , Czechoslovakia shortly before midnight , 7 May 1945 .