115^th Infantry Regiment

The 115th Infantry Regiment was a Maryland National Guard regiment inducted at Frederick on February 3, 1941 and assigned to the 29th Infantry Division. After training in Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida, it sailed from New York in October 1942 and spent more than a year in England. Attached to the 1st Infantry Division for the assault period, the regiment came ashore on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944 as the 29th Division's follow-up infantry. Its companies landed amid the confusion east of St. Laurent, moved inland after the first assault waves, and began pushing toward the Longueville area.

During the first week in Normandy, the 115th cleared around St. Laurent, moved southwest through Louvieres and Montigny, reached the Aure near Longueville, and advanced toward the Elle. On June 12 the regiment attacked the Elle line under strong small-arms and artillery fire. The 3rd Battalion briefly crossed and moved south, but enemy forces in hedgerows threatened to cut it off, forcing a withdrawal after heavy losses. Elements of the regiment later supported the 116th Infantry in the Martinville Ridge and Villiers-Fossard fighting during the approach to St. Lo. After the breakout, the regiment fought with the division in Brittany during the siege of Brest and then moved east to the German frontier.

In the Rhineland campaign the 115th served in the 29th Division's drive toward the Roer. In November 1944 it attacked with the 175th Infantry as the division pressed toward Juelich. In early December, after the 116th was checked against strongpoints west of the Roer, the 115th continued the attack with armored support and destroyed the positions opposite Juelich. On February 23, 1945, during Operation GRENADE, the regiment crossed the swollen Roer north of Juelich, took Broich, and secured high ground beyond the river in a night attack. It then joined Ninth Army's pursuit across the Cologne plain, entering Muenchen-Gladbach with the division and ending the war on occupation duty near Bremen.