The 172nd Infantry Regiment was a Vermont National Guard regiment inducted on February 24, 1941, and assigned to the 43rd Infantry Division. It sailed from San Francisco in October 1942 and was detached at Espiritu Santo, where its transport, USS President Coolidge, was mined while entering harbor. After base-defense duty and attachment to XIV Corps and the 37th Infantry Division, the regiment rejoined the 43rd Division for the New Georgia campaign. It landed on Rendova on June 30, 1943, while Company A and the Antitank Company assaulted Sasavele Island. The regiment then advanced toward the Munda front.
In July 1943 the 172nd pushed through jungle and supply difficulties toward Laiana, reaching the coast under fire and establishing a shorter supply route. It fought west from the Laiana beachhead against pillboxes, tangled terrain, and Shimizu Hill as the division closed on Munda Airfield. After Munda, the regiment seized Baanga Island and assaulted Arundel on August 27, fighting there until Japanese evacuation in September. In 1944 it moved through New Zealand to Aitape, New Guinea, where it held the Tadji-Nigia sector and patrolled after the Japanese Driniumor offensive had been broken.
The 172nd assaulted Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945. On Luzon it fought into the hills above Rosario, clearing Hill 580, Hill 900, and the ground controlling the Damortis-Rosario Road and the Routes 3-11 junction. Those January battles cost heavily but secured the northern side of the Sixth Army beachhead. In March the regiment entered the Shimbu Line fighting east of Manila, containing Sugarloaf Hill and then seizing Mt. Yabang and most of Mt. Caymayuman as Japanese forces withdrew east of the Bosoboso River. During the Ipo Dam operation in May, it advanced on the division left through Hill 815, Fork Ridge, Hill 804, and Route 52, helping secure the dam area before the regiment moved to Cabanatuan and occupation duty.
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