117^th Infantry Regiment

The 117th Infantry Regiment was a Tennessee National Guard regiment inducted at Jackson on September 16, 1940 and assigned to the 30th Infantry Division. After training in the United States, including duty at Fort Benning as a demonstration regiment for river crossings, it sailed from Boston in February 1944 and landed in France on June 14. Its first major combat role came on July 7, when it made the division's main assault across the Vire River north of Airel. The crossing helped establish the St. Jean-de-Daye bridgehead, through which armored forces later moved toward St. Lo.

In the hedgerow fighting the regiment helped contain a German armored counterattack near Hauts-Vents, then advanced through Pont Hebert, the Periers-St. Lo road, and Troisgots. After the breakout it relieved elements of the 1st Infantry Division near Mortain just before the German counterstroke of August 7. Around St. Barthelemy, German armor and infantry overran two companies and threatened the regimental command post, but the regiment held enough of the ground to keep the enemy drive from opening the Avranches corridor. It reentered St. Barthelemy on August 12 as the counterattack collapsed.

The 117th then moved through Belgium and Holland into Germany. On October 2 it crossed the Wurm, reduced pillboxes near Palenberg, and seized Uebach in house-to-house fighting. During the Aachen encirclement it fought around Alsdorf, Schaufenberg, and Mariadorf, then continued the Roer plain campaign through Hongen, St. Joeris, Kinzweiler, and the Inde River line. In December it shifted to the Ardennes, where it helped block the Malmedy-Stavelot sector and clear the north bank of the Ambleve. The regiment crossed the Roer on February 24, 1945, attacked toward Steinstrass, and crossed the Rhine at Wallach on March 24. In April it advanced through the Weser line, captured Braunschweig, reached the Elbe, and ended the war securing the Magdeburg sector.