96^th Infantry Division

The 96th Infantry Division entered combat on Leyte in October 1944, landing near Dulag and fighting inland through swamps and fortified ridges. The 382nd Infantry Regiment contested Bloody Ridge west of Dagami through early November in close and sustained fighting before the division consolidated its sector and completed mop-up through December.

Its second and most demanding campaign came on Okinawa. Landing on April 1, 1945, the division advanced quickly along the western coast before encountering the Shuri Line. The 383rd Infantry Regiment stormed Kakazu Ridge in a surprise assault on April 9 but was forced off by the next day; major Japanese counterattacks on April 12-14 tested the division before it was shifted to a new sector at Nishibaru-Tanabaru, fighting the Battle for Nishibaru Ridge from April 19-24. After rehabilitation, the division returned to the Shuri Line and secured Conical Hill — holding it against a major Japanese counterattack on May 13 — before pressing south through Shuri's ruins.

The 381st Infantry Regiment fought the Battle for Yaeju-Dake Escarpment from June 6-14, reducing one of the final Japanese strongpoints before Okinawa was declared secure on June 22. Its two campaigns — Leyte and Okinawa — were among the most costly and difficult operations conducted by American forces in the Pacific, and the division's combat record from one to the other defined its wartime identity.