124^th Infantry Regiment

The wartime 124th Infantry Regiment was activated in Australia on April 5, 1944, using assets of the disbanded 154th Infantry Regiment, and was assigned to the 31st Infantry Division. It reached Dobodura, New Guinea, later that month and moved to Aitape in early July, where it was attached to PERSECUTION Task Force. The regiment entered combat during the Battle of the Driniumor River on July 13, attacking south from the Anamo area while American forces restored the river line after the Japanese 18th Army's breakthrough.

In the Driniumor fighting, the 124th operated in difficult jungle where maps were unreliable and battalions often moved out of contact. Its 1st and 3rd Battalions pushed along and west of the Anamo-Afua trail, helped close the gap between North and South Forces, and fought repeated Japanese attempts to reopen crossings near Kawanaka Shima. At the end of July the regiment, reinforced as TED Force, crossed east of the Driniumor in a wider counteroffensive toward Niumen Creek, supplied in part by airdrop and supported by artillery controlled through liaison aircraft.

The regiment rejoined the 31st Division at Maffin Bay and assaulted Morotai on September 15, 1944. Landing on White Beach, its 1st Battalion secured the Gila Peninsula while the rest of the regiment moved inland to the D-Day line and linked with the 167th Infantry. After Morotai security duty, the regiment moved to Mindanao in 1945. Starting from Kabacan, it drove north on Sayre Highway, defeated a Japanese battalion in a night engagement, and reached Kibawe by May 3. It then fought through Colgan Woods from May 5 to May 12, overcame the roadblock north of Lake Pinalay, and later guarded rear installations and probed east into the mountains toward Silae. The regiment ended the war on Mindanao near Valencia.