36th Infantry Division ( United States ) The 36th Infantry Division ( " Arrowhead " ) , also known as the Texas Division , is a modular division of the United States Army and the Texas Army National Guard . It was activated for service in World War II on 25 November 1940 , and was sent overseas in April 1943 . It was reorganized in May 2004 from the 49th Armored Division . History . World War I The 36th Infantry Division was originally activated as the 15th Division , an Army National Guard Division from Texas and Oklahoma . The new unit also received a new commander , Major General Edwin St . John Greble . The designation was changed to the 36th Division in July 1917 . The final composition of the 36th Division consisted of the 71st and 72nd Infantry Brigades , the 141st and 142nd Infantry Regiments belonging to the 71st . The 143rd and 144th Infantry Regiments were attached to the 72nd Brigade . Belonging to the 71st was also the 132nd Machine Gun Battalion . Similarly , the 72nd received the 133rd Machine Gun Battalion . The 61st Field Artillery Brigade , 131st , 132nd , and 133rd Field Artillery Regiments , 111th Regiment Engineers , 111th Signal Battalion and the 111th Supply Train comprised the rest of the 36th Division . The unit trained at Camp Bowie , Texas , then in Tarrant County , the site of the present - day city of Fort Worth . The unit was sent to Europe in July 1918 and conducted major operations in the Meuse - Argonne Offensive . On 9 – 10 October , the unit participated in heavy combat near the village of St . Etienne . Following this victory , which included the capture of several hundred German men and officers , as well as artillery , the unit launched an assault near an area known as " Forest Farm . " During World War I , the division suffered 2 , 584 casualties , 466 killed in action and 2 , 118 wounded in action . The unit was inactivated in June 1919 . World War II Europe . The 36th was called up again for active federal service on 25 November 1940 , at San Antonio , Texas . The division loaded all of its equipment , mustered its personnel , and departed for its mobilization station at Camp Bowie , Texas on 14 December 1940 . The 36th moved to Brownwood , Texas on 1 June 1941 , where it participated in the VIII Corps Brownwood Maneuvers until 13 June 1941 . The division then returned to Camp Bowie . The division then moved to Mansfield , Louisiana , and took part in both the August and September 1941 Louisiana Maneuvers . The division then returned to Camp Bowie on 2 October 1941 , where it was reorganized into a triangular infantry division on 1 February 1942 . The division then moved to Camp Blanding , Florida on 19 February 1942 , and participated in the Carolina Maneuvers between 9 July 1942 , and 15 August 1942 . The division then was staged at Camp Edwards , Massachusetts on 17 August 1942 , for its port call . The division departed the New York Port of Embarkation on 2 April 1943 , for North Africa . Combat chronicle . The 36th Infantry Division landed in North Africa , 13 April 1943 , and trained at Arzew and Rabat . It was assigned to the VI Corps , Fifth Army , but attached to Services of Supply , North African Theater of Operations U . S . Army ( NATOUSA ) , for supply . The division first saw action on 9 September 1943 , when it landed by sea at Paestum on the Gulf of Salerno against intense German opposition . The Germans launched counterattacks on 12 – 14 September , but the 36th repulsed them with the aid of air support and naval gunfire , and advanced slowly , securing the area from Agropoli to Altavilla . After a brief rest the 36th returned to combat , 15 November . It captured Mount Maggiore , Mount Lungo , and the village of San Pietro despite strong enemy positions and severe winter weather . This grueling campaign was marked by futile attempts to establish a secure bridgehead across the Rapido River , 1 January 1944 , to 8 February 1944 . After assisting the 34th Division in the attack on Cassino and fighting defensively along the Rapido River , the severely depleted 36th withdrew , 12 March 1944 , for rest and recreation . The division arrived by sea at the Anzio Beachhead , 22 May 1944 , to take part in Operation Diadem , with the breakout from the beachhead commencing the following day . It drove north to capture Velletri , 1 June , and entered Rome on the 5th . Pushing up from Rome , the 36th encountered sharp resistance at Magliano , but reached Piombino , 26 June 1944 , before moving back to Paestum for rest and recreation . On 15 August 1944 , as part of the 6th Army Group , the division made another amphibious assault landing , against light opposition in the Saint - Raphaël - Fréjus area of Southern France as part of Operation Dragoon . A rapid advance opened the Rhone River Valley . Montelimar fell , 28 August , and large German units were trapped . On 15 September 1944 , the Division was attached to the French First Army . The 36th advanced to the Moselle River at Remiremont and the foothills of the Vosges . In a grinding offensive , the Division crossed the Meurthe River , breached the Ste . Marie Pass and burst into the Alsatian Plain s . The enemy counterattacked , 13 December 1944 , but the 36th held the perimeter of the Colmar Pocket . On 15 December 1944 , the Division was released from attachment to the First French Army , and returned to the control of VI Corps . The German Army counterattacks out of the " Colmar Pocket " were so fierce , that at times , the field artillery was forced to fire over open sights , at point blank range to stop them . On 20 December 1944 , the Division resumed the attack , advancing northward along the Rhine River to Mannheim meeting heavy resistance at Haguenau , Oberhofen , and Wissembourg . In this action Company " G " 143rd Infantry Regiment gained a Presidential Unit Citation . On 27 December 1944 , the division was reassigned to XXI Corps , and the division was pinched out and returned to Seventh Army Reserve on 30 December 1944 . The division was taken out of the line for the first time since it had landed in the south of France . On 3 January 1945 , the division was reassigned to XV Corps . On 18 January 1945 , the division was reassigned to VI Corps . It returned to the line early March 1945 . The 36th was reassigned to the Seventh Army on 29 March 1945 , and moved to the Danube River on 22 April 1945 . It was reassigned to the XXI Corps on 27 April 1945 , and attacked the " National Redoubt " at Künzelsau on the 30th . The 36th has been recognized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum as a liberating unit for their work securing the subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp system . By 8 May 1945 , the division was based in Kitzbühel , Austria where it captured Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt , the commander of all German army forces on the Western front , and its final station was at Kufstein , Austria on 14 August 1945 . After 400 days of combat , the 36th Infantry Division returned to the United States in December 1945 . It was returned to the Texas Army National Guard on 15 December 1945 . World War II - The Lost Battalion . The 2nd Battalion , 131st Field Artillery , long with the rest of the 36th Infantry Division , was mobilized for federal service on 20 November 1940 . It was soon sent to Camp Bowie at Brownwood . Earmarked as part of the reinforcements to U . S . Army troops in the Philippine Islands , the Battalion was detached from the 36th Infantry and sailed on the on 21 November 1941 . It arrived at Pearl Harbor on the 28th of the same month . After refueling in Hawaii , the ship sailed south in the company of several other troopships , including the " Chaumont " , " Hallmark " , " Holbrook " , " Admiral Halstead " , " Bloemfontein " , " Coast Farmer " and " Gregg " , a corvette and the cruiser . On 6 December , the convoy crossed the Equator , and the next morning the Unit was informed of the attack on Pearl Harbor . The Battalion manned the " Republic " s four 3 - inch guns and one 5 - inch gun from this time until their arrival in Australia . After a short stop at Suva , Fiji Islands , the convoy sailed on to Brisbane , Australia , crossing the International Dateline ( 180th Meridian ) on 13 December 1941 . The Battalion was among the first American troops ever to land on Australian soil . The Battalion spent Christmas 1941 in Brisbane , but before New Year ' s Day , it was again on the high seas , aboard the Dutch freighter " Bloemfontein " , bound for the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies , via Darwin , Australia ( escorted part of the way by the cruiser ) . It landed on Java on 11 January 1942 ( 35 days into the war ) . They were to be the only U . S . ground combat unit to reach the Dutch East Indies before the Dutch capitulated to the Japanese . A few days after the Battalion ' s arrival in Java , it moved to Singosari Airfield near Malang , Java to support the 19th Bombardment Group of the U . S . Army Air Corps . The 19th had escaped the Philippines on 29 December with a few B - 17 bombers , pilots , co - pilots and whatever crew members that managed to get aboard as the planes took off while under attack . The 19th flew B - 17 s , B - 24 s , and LB - 30 s from Java against enemy airfields , shipping , and ground installations during the Japanese offensive against the Dutch East Indies during early 1942 . Until this group withdrew to Australia on 2 March 1942 , the Battalion provided it with mechanics , ground crew , aerial gunners and a semblance of anti - aircraft weapons . Two men were killed on 3 February 1942 when they parachuted from one of the B - 17s and were gunned down by Japanese fighters . 23 men of the Battalion transferred to the 19th Bomb Group and were evacuated with them . When the Japanese invaded Java , the Battalion ( less E Battery ) used its artillery and . 50 caliber machine guns ( salvaged from wrecked B - 17s ) in support of an Australian " Pioneer Infantry " group which had arrived in Java just prior to the Japanese landing . They helped hold up the Japanese advance at Leuwilleng , near the Central Java City of Bandoeng . Battery E remained on the eastern end of Java to guard the airfield at Malang and to support the Dutch troops in the Soerabaja area . Heavy ground action was experienced by Battery E prior to the surrender of the island by the Dutch to the invading Japanese , on 8 March 1942 . The Japanese terms of surrender were unconditional and all troops were advised that any further resistance would be followed by instant reprisals against the civilian population , including women and children . Of the 558 men and officers who landed on Java on 11 January 1942 , 534 became prisoners of war of the Japanese . Within a few weeks , the Japanese had all of the American prisoners from the USS " Houston " and the 131st Field Artillery ( less E Battery ) together in the 10th Battalion Bicycle Camp , a former Dutch installation in Batavia ( Jakarta ) , Java . Battery E remained in the Soerabaja area until moved to Nagasaki and other areas in Japan via Batavia and Singapore in November and December 1942 . Thus , two units of the American Armed Forces , consisting of 902 men , seemingly disappeared from the face of the earth ( and became one unit ) . As with crew members of the USS " Houston " , the U . S . government had no information on the fate of the Battalion after the Dutch surrender , hence the name , " Lost Battalion . " Of the 902 men taken prisoner , 668 were sent to Burma and Thailand to work as slave laborers on the Burma - Siam " Death Railway " of " The Bridge on the River Kwai " fame , building a railroad through the jungle . Of the total 163 men who died in Prisoner of War camps , 133 died working on the railroad . The 235 men who didn ' t work on the Burma Railway were sent to the coal mines , docks and shipyards in Japan and other southeast Asian countries . Both groups of POWs suffered together through 42 months of humiliation , degradation , physical and mental torture , starvation and horrible tropical diseases , with no medication . Quite a few of the men were killed by American submarines while en route to Singapore and Japan and more were killed by American bombers . Through the debrief of some survivors of the POW convoys who had been rescued by U . S . submarines , the U . S . Government first found out that members of the Battalion as well as of the crew of the USS " Houston " had survived . When liberated , the men were scattered throughout locations in Southeast Asia : Java , Singapore , Burma , Thailand , French Indo China , Japan , China and Manchuria , to name most of them . Global War on Terror . On 1 May 2004 , the 49th Armored Division of the Texas Army National Guard was officially deactivated and the 49th Armored Division was redesignated the 36th Infantry Division . After half a century , the " Fighting 36th " was reactivated to better carry on the proud legacy established by the 36th Division , as opposed to the peacetime - only service of the 49th Armored Division . In January 2004 , 74 soldiers from Alpha Battery ( TAB ) 2nd Battalion 131st Field Artillery were activated for federal service in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . Alpha Battery commanded by CPT Alvaro Gomez entered federal service in Fort Sill , OK . Under the supervision of 1SG Alfredo Barrera , the soldiers trained up and deployed to Iraq . While readying their equipment in Kuwait , Alpha Battery was given her mission and the five radar sections were split up . One AN - TPQ37 Radar section ( SSG Gonzales ) was attached to the 1st Marine Division in Al Taqadum another ( CW3 Earnest Metcalf ) was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division at LSA Anaconda and the three AN - TPQ36 radar sections ( CW2 Davidson , CW2 Bien , and SSG Johnson ) were assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in Mosul . The headquarters and support platoon ( 1LT Christopher Galvan ) operated out of Forward Operating Base Freedom in northern Mosul . In addition to the target acquisition mission , the support platoon supplemented patrols conducted by the 25th Infantry Division Fires Brigade FIST Team and provided security for the FOB ' s perimeter by manning the entrance gates and watch towers . At the conclusion of the battery ' s deployment , the unit was awarded three Bronze Star Medals , 1 Purple Heart Medal , 47 Army Commendation Medal s , 74 Combat Action Badges , several memorandums of appreciation from command staff , and were given the privilege of wearing the unit shoulder sleeve insignia for wartime service from the 2nd Infantry Division , the 25th Infantry Division , the 36th Infantry Division , or the 1st Infantry Division . In 2005 approximately 100 soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division deployed to Bosnia for Enduring Mission 3 which was a continuation from previous IFOR and SFOR missions . When Task Force Strike left Eagle Base in Tuzla late 2006 , it marked the end of an American military maneuver presence in Bosnia which had existed for almost a decade after the Dayton Accords . In 2005 , over three thousand troops from the 56th BCT , 36th ID deployed to Iraq as part of the largest deployment of Texas troops since World War II . 3 / 133 FA , 2 / 142 INF were both awarded Meritorious Unit Citations for their service in Iraq . In 2005 – 2006 , 800 soldiers of 3d Battalion , 141st Infantry Regiment , 72d Brigade , 36th Infantry Division deployed to Afghanistan for combat operations . The battalion was attached to the 504th Infantry Regiment of the 82d Airborne Division and earned a Joint Meritorious Unit Citation . In 2006 , the 1st Squadron , 124th Cavalry Regiment , 36th Infantry Division became the first cavalry unit to serve as peacekeepers in the Sinai Desert for the Multinational Force and Observers . The force was made up of soldiers from several units of the 36th Infantry Division including 1 – 112th AR , 2 – 112th AR , 3 – 112th AR , 3rd Mech , and C Btry 2 - 131 FA ( MLRS ) . In late 2006 , Company B of the 3d Battalion , 144th Infantry Regiment deployed to Iraq after pre - deployment training at Ft . Dix , NJ and were actively engaged in combat operations . They returned in late 2007 . In late 2005 to late 2006 , the 36th Infantry Division was the major leading force for KFOR 7 , the peacekeeping mission on Kosovo . The Combat Aviation Brigade , 36th Infantry Division shipped to Iraq in September 2006 for a planned one - year deployment . On 7 May 2007 3d Battalion 144th Infantry Regiment mobilized as " Task Force Panther " in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . " Task Force Panther " trained at Camp Shelby , MS , and , after validation , forward deployed to Kuwait , where they processed into theater and transferred into Iraq . On 28 August 2008 , more than 3000 soldiers of the 56th IBCT again deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom . On 15 August 2009 , the 3000 soldiers of the 56th IBCT returned to Texas after 10 months in Iraq . Two soldiers from Bravo Troop 3 - 124 Cav , and one from C Btry 4 - 133 were wounded during the tour . On 10 April 2009 , 136 Military Police Battalion deployed more than 150 Soldiers to Afghanistan command and run the Bagram Theatre Internment Facility . Task Force Lonestar transferred the detainees from the BTIF to the new Detention Facility in Parwan . 136 Military Police returned in May 2010 after receiving numerous awards . On 1 October 2009 , the 72nd IBCT mobilized for deployment to Iraq . Upon arrival in theater , the brigade headquarters assumed authority as the Joint Area Support Group - Conditional for the International Zone , with the brigade ' s subordinate elements distributed throughout the country conducting detainee operations . The brigade returned from Iraq in July and August 2010 , with A Btry 1 - 133 FA being the last element to return home . In November and December 2010 , the 36th Infantry Division Headquarters deployed to Basrah , Iraq , replacing the US 1st ID , where they provided command and control of US Active Army , Reserve , and National Guard units in support of Operation New Dawn . The 36th ID command covered 15 , 000 deployed military and contractor forces at 17 bases in the nine provinces in Southern Iraq . As part of the drawdown of US forces in Iraq , the division headquarters redeployed to the US starting in late August 2011 , the main body following in September 2011 to Fort Hood , TX . No 36th ID soldiers were lost to combat operations during the deployment . On 26 November 2011 , the newly formed 1st Battalion ( Airborne ) , 143rd Infantry Regiment mobilized as Task Force Walker for deployment to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . The battalion , comprising companies from Texas , Rhode Island , and Alaska , was deployed across the country in support of provincial reconstruction teams . The headquarters element was located in Kabul serving under the 648th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade ( Task Force Hydra ) in the Kabul Base Cluster . In the summer of 2012 , both the 136th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade ( MEB ) and Task Force Arrowhead mobilized for service in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom . The 136th MEB took control of several bases in the Kabul area , while TF Arrowhead , composed of 31 Security Force Assistance Teams ( SFATs ) , performed advisory duties with various Afghan National Security Forces ( ANSF ) elements in Regional Command - South . Insignia . The 36th Division insignia consisting of an olive drab " T " on a blue flint arrowhead was adopted in 1918 . The flint arrowhead represents the State of Oklahoma ( once the Indian Territory ) , and the " T " is for Texas . Current Structure . 36th Infantry Division exercises Training and Readiness Oversight of the following elements , they cannot be considered organic :