164^th Infantry Regiment

The 164th Infantry Regiment was a North Dakota National Guard regiment federalized at Fargo on February 10, 1941. After initial service with the 34th Division and later GHQ assignment, it sailed from San Francisco in March 1942, reached Australia and New Caledonia, and joined the Americal Division in May. It was the division's first infantry regiment committed on Guadalcanal, arriving on October 13, 1942, under air attack and serving temporarily with the 1st Marine Division.

The regiment's first major test came during the Japanese October counteroffensive against the Lunga perimeter and Henderson Field. On the night of October 24-25, the 3rd Battalion reinforced the thinly held Marine line east of Bloody Ridge. The next night Japanese units attacked the 2nd and 3rd Battalions near a trail leading toward the Lunga road net; 37-mm. guns, mortars, machine guns, and rifle fire broke up the assaults. The regiment then fought at Koli Point and Gavaga Creek in November before remaining on Guadalcanal into March 1943.

After rebuilding in Fiji, the 164th entered Bougainville in late December 1943 and served in the Torokina perimeter. It later moved to Leyte, where it conducted mop-up while the rest of the division prepared for Cebu. Its antitank company landed on Cebu on March 26, and the main regiment rejoined the division in April, moving through the Mananga Valley during the fight for the Japanese hill defenses north of Cebu City. The 3rd Battalion then landed on Bohol on April 11 and broke organized resistance there by late April. The rest of the regiment landed on Negros Oriental on April 26, fought through the Palimpinon Heights, reduced a final pocket in June, and returned to Cebu before the division shifted to occupation duty in Japan.