60th Infantry Regiment ( United States ) The U . S . 60th Infantry Regiment is a regiment al unit in the United States Army . Its 2nd and 3rd Battalion conduct Basic Combat Training . During three wars on three continents , the 2nd Battalion has played a part in the achievements of the computer regiment and the 5th Division in WWI and 9th Infantry Division in World War II and Vietnam . The regimental crest reflects this . The cannon in the embattled canton refers to the 7th Infantry Regiment that provided the cadre who activated the regiment ; it is a principal charge in the 7th ' s arms dealers . The silver pale wavy makes reference to the Regiment ' s crossing of the Meuse in World War I ; and the red diamond on that pale wavy to the Fifth Infantry Division , to which the 60th was assigned in the First World War . World War I . The 60th Infantry was organized in June 1917 at the outset of World War I from cadre furnished by the 7th U . S . Infantry . In November 1917 it was assigned to the 5th Infantry Division and underwent its baptism of fire on the Western Front . The 60th Infantry participated in the campaigns of St . Mihiel , Alsace and Lorraine and finally in war ending campaign of the Meuse - Argonne . During this battle , 1LT Woodfill , later called by General Pershing " the outstanding doughboy of the war " , was awarded the Medal of Honor for his single - handed destruction of a German company ( with all available weapons from a machine gun to pick ax ) as the Battalion made an epic crossing of the Meuse River under ferocious enemy fire to help break the back of German resistance . World War II . After the First World War the 60th Infantry was inactivated in South Carolina in 1921 . A generation later , in August 1940 , war in Europe resulted in a rapid expansion of the US Army . The 60th Infantry was reactivated and assigned to the 9th Infantry Division . The 60th Infantry spearheaded the November 1942 , invasion of French Morocco at Port Lyautey in Operation Torch , winning the arrowhead assault landing device in an action which laid the basis for its nickname ' Scouts Out ' . At the time of the invasion , there was great confusion among the Navy coxswains about the landing sites . They either placed their units in the wrong sector , or put them on the beaches very late . The 60th , for example , landed at 05 : 30 , 40 minutes late , giving the defending Vichy French time to organize . The 1st Battalion landed 2 , 800 yards north of their assigned beach , and were engaged by French light tanks once ashore . The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were strafed by French planes . Company E , 2nd Battalion , was stopped completely at a strongpoint , the Port Lyautey lighthouse . The 2nd Battalion ' s eventual objective was to take an ancient fortress , the Kasba . Once the landing points were completely secured , engagements were fought between small units and opposing batteries . The regiment culminated its successful North African campaigns with a defense on 18 April 1943 ( Easter Sunday ) against a massive German attack , and earned a Presidential Unit Citation . The Germans hit the " Go Devils " from all four sides with 2 full battalions of infantry supported by artillery . After a four hours attack that failed , the Germans threw in the towel , leaving 116 dead , 48 wounded , and many prisoners in American hands . In 1943 during the battle of Sedjenane Valley along the Tunisia - Algeria border , it was during the fanatical drive by the 60th Regiment that a captured German general ' s diary gave the regiment its nickname . In his account of American actions against the Germans , he wrote " Look at those devils go ! " Thereafter , the 60th Infantry Regiment became known as the " Go Devils " . In Sicily the regiment continued its winning ways , culminating in the famous " Ghost March , " where the unit infiltrated enemy lines and broke open the last of the German resistance . The Regiment landed at Palermo , Sicily on 5 August . Their first combat action was the first of the infiltrations they would make in Sicily . The Regiment flanked the city of Troina , which forced the German artillery protecting the Infantry in the city to withdraw , allowing other U . S . divisions to easily swallow up the Germans in the city . Next , the Go Devils chased the retreating Germans east towards Randazzo . The pursuit was hindered by a number booby traps , demolitions , anti - tank and personnel mines , craters and blown bridges . Regardless , the 60th completed its flanking movement around Randazzo , which allowed its sister regiment , the 39th Infantry , to take the city . With Randazzo taken the road to Messina was open ; and the city was taken on 17 August . Rest and further training followed for some two months . On 11 November 1943 , the 60th embarked for Winchester , England . On 11 June 1944 , the 60th Regiment debarked at Utah Beach on the Cotentin Peninsula , Normandy , France . On the 12th , driving hard toward the St . Colombe in France , the 2nd Battalion , 60th Regiment completely outdistanced the rest of the 9th Division . For a time , the unit was even believed to be lost . Actually , the battalion had overrun the German defenses in the face of murderous fire and had cut the main highway to the northwest . Instead of withdrawing , the battalion set up a bridgehead on the Douve River and held the position for seven hours until the rest of the division caught up to them , thus facilitating the cutting of the peninsula . Due to this demonstration of rapid penetration and maneuver , the " Scouts Out " motto originated for the Second Battalion . " Scouts Out " is the official greeting of the battalion . In France during the heroic days of June 1944 , the Regiment once again led the way for the 9th Division as it spearheaded the American advance out of the beachhead that cut the Contentin Peninsula . While the 39th and 47th Infantry Regiments secured the vital Port of Cherburg , the 60th cleared Cape La Hague , northwest of Cherbourg , where John E . Butts was killed . At the pivotal crossing of the Douve River , 1LT John Butts earned the Medal of Honor and the Battalion earned its second Presidential Unit Citation . Following the breakout at St . Lo , the regiment rushed south in Operation Cobra and helped relieve the battered 30th Infantry Division , that had been surrounded by the Germans in their own counterattack ( Operation Luttich ) . Next , the regiment turned east and helped in the closure and clearing of the Falaise Pocket . Continuing east , the regiment crossed the Marne , Aisne , and the Seine Rivers in a matter of days . Next the regiment entered Belgium and made its second combat crossing of the Meuse River . Here , LTC Matt Urban earned his Medal of Honor , having gone AWOL from a hospital to rejoin his troops and lead them in combat . After the bitter and bloody struggle in the Huertegen Forest , the Regiment fell back to the Monschau area where its efforts won it a third Presidential Unit Citation in the snow and bitter cold of the Battle of the Bulge . The 60th then was the first to capture the Schwammanuel Dam on the Roer River . Continuing south , the Regiment was one of the first to cross the Rhine at Remagen . After expanding the bridgehead , the Go Devils shot northeast , where they helped seal and destroy the Ruhr Pocket . Continuing northeast , the Regiment advanced toward the Harz Mountains , where for the first time the 60th had attached to them a platoon of black volunteers . While destroying a German roadblock , one black soldier , Pfc . Jack Thomas , won the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions . After relieving the 3rd Armored Division , the Regiment held that line until VE day , and met up with Russian soldiers soon after . For their actions in Central Europe , the regiment won a fourth Presidential Unit Citation . The Regiment was inactivated in November 1946 while on occupation duty in Germany . Vietnam War . After service as the 2nd Battle Group , 60th Infantry from 1958 – 1962 , three battalions ( 2 / 60 , 3 / 60 , and 5 / 60 Mech ) were activated at Fort Riley , Kansas , and assigned to the 9th Infantry Division for its deployment to the Republic of Vietnam in December 1966 . The division was the only major U . S . combat unit to conduct operations in the Mekong Delta . The battalions of the 60th participated in both Riverine operations and " jitterbug tactics " which featured split - second timing of airmobile insertions in close proximity to enemy units . These operations won the battalions unit citations and campaign streamers , including one Presidential Unit Citation . The 9th Infantry Division was the first to be withdrawn from Vietnam , and returned to the Ft . Lewis , Washington , in 1970 where its battalions were inactivated . 2nd Battalion , 60th Infantry was reactivated on 21 October 1972 at Ft . Lewis , then inactivated at Fort Lewis and relieved from assignment to the 9th Infantry Division in February 1991 . The regiment was assigned to the Training and Doctrine Command on 27 August 1996 , with the 2nd Battalion activated at Fort Jackson , South Carolina . 3d Battalion , 60th Infantry Regiment " River Raiders " is currently also assigned to the 193d Infantry Brigade in Ft Jackson , South Carolina ( along with the 2nd Battalion , 60th Infantry , 1st Battalion , 13th Infantry Regiment , 2nd Battalion , 13th Infantry Regiment , and 3rd Battalion , 13th Infantry Regiment ) and serving as a basic combat training battalion with A , B , C , D , E , and F companies . Honors and decorations . The 2nd Battalion has received Campaign Participation Credit for WWI ( 4 ) , WWII ( 8 ) , and Vietnam ( 11 ) ; and has received 5 Presidential Unit Citations . Nine men have earned the Medal of Honor while serving with the 60th Infantry :