Americal Division

The Americal Division entered combat on Guadalcanal in October 1942, when the 164th Infantry Regiment — the first U.S. Army ground unit committed to offensive operations against Japanese forces in any theater of the war — landed on October 13 to reinforce the Marine perimeter at Henderson Field. During the Japanese attacks of October 23–25, the regiment's companies interleaved with Marine units to hold the line against assault after assault. In the following weeks the division joined the Allied counteroffensive, the 164th Infantry fighting alongside Marine regiments in operations along the Matanikau River in November. In January 1943, the 182nd Infantry Regiment and 132nd Infantry Regiment drove to seize Mount Austen and the surrounding high ground in operations that lasted into February. Organized resistance on Guadalcanal ended on February 9, and the division was relieved.

After a period of defense and training in Fiji, the Americal returned to combat on Bougainville in December 1943, relieving Marine units and assuming responsibility for part of the perimeter. In March 1944 the division advanced beyond the Mavavia River, and in April it seized numerous strategic hilltops before the front settled into patrol warfare and containment of the Japanese garrison.

In early 1945 the division moved to the Philippines. It conducted dispersed operations on Leyte and Samar, seizing the nearby islands of Biri, Capul, and Ticao before the main effort shifted west. On March 26, the 132nd Infantry and 182nd Infantry landed on Cebu; Cebu City and its airfields fell within two days. Divisional combat teams then deployed to Bohol, Negros, and Mindanao, clearing pockets of Japanese resistance through June 1945. Rather than a single decisive engagement, the Americal Division's combat record reflects the broader Pacific strategy: seizing key positions, isolating Japanese forces, and reducing them across the Solomons and the southern Philippines. The division landed in Japan for occupation duty on September 10, 1945.