137^th Infantry Regiment

The 137th Infantry Regiment was a Kansas National Guard regiment assigned to the 35th Infantry Division. Federalized at Wichita on December 23, 1940, it trained in the United States before sailing from New York on May 12, 1944. The regiment arrived in England on May 25 and landed in France on July 8. Three days later it entered the Normandy battle along the Vire during the XIX Corps attack toward St. Lo. Checked at St. Gilles in its first attack, the regiment remained in the hedgerow fight until the 35th Division broke toward St. Lo and Rampan.

After the breakout, the 137th advanced across France and fought through the Lorraine campaign. It forced the Moselle at Crevechamps on September 11, then fought in the Nancy and Seille River operations. In November it operated on the 35th Division left, often beside armored task forces. Its 3rd Battalion crossed an icy stream and cleared Bistroff in a house-to-house fight on November 18, an action later recognized by a Distinguished Unit Citation. The regiment then fought through the village chain leading toward the Sarre, including Hellimer, Frémestroff, Leyviller, St. Jean-Rohrbach, and Hilsprich. In December it helped clear Sarreguemines, fought through buildings and shelters in the city, and moved to Frauenberg to protect the division's exposed left flank during the Blies River fighting.

The Ardennes campaign shifted the regiment from Lorraine to Belgium. South of Bastogne it fought in the Villers-la-Bonne-Eau sector, where companies of the regiment were cut off and the regiment then fought for days through woods, snow, and defended villages before the town was taken. After the Bulge, the 137th returned to the Rhineland, entered Germany again in February 1945, and fought through the Roer and Ruhr operations as the 35th Division drove toward the Rhine and central Germany. It returned to the United States at the end of August 1945 and was inactivated in December.