343^rd Infantry Regiment

The 343rd Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Howze, Texas, on December 15, 1942, in the 86th Infantry Division. It trained through Louisiana, Camp Livingston, Camp Cooke, and Camp San Luis Obispo before staging at Camp Myles Standish in February 1945. The regiment sailed from Boston on February 19, landed in France on March 1, and entered Germany on March 27. Its combat service began late, but it formed part of the 86th Division's advance from the Rhine to the Ruhr, Bavaria, and the approaches to the Inn.

After the division relieved the 8th Infantry Division near Weiden and crossed the Rhine at Eibelshausen, the 342nd made the first divisional attack on April 9. The 343rd entered the Ruhr fighting as the 86th moved northwest on the right flank of XVIII Airborne Corps. On April 13 it cleared Herscheid, Huinghausen, and Plettenberg while the 341st dashed toward Hagen and the 342nd seized Luedenscheid. By April 15 it had cleared towns along the Lenne River up to the Ruhr, helping close the eastern side of the pocket.

The regiment's later actions came in the rapid Bavarian pursuit. While the 341st and 342nd attacked toward Eichstatt, the Altmuhl, and the Danube, the 343rd remained with the division's rightward movement through southern Germany. By April 30 foot elements of the 343rd, alongside the 342nd, had completed the Isar crossing on the right flank of III Corps, continued to the Mittl Isar Canal, and began crossing near Eitting. On May 1 the regiment advanced from the canal toward Erding. On May 2 it was replaced by the 341st as the division drove toward Haag and Wasserburg. After victory in Europe, the 343rd returned to the United States, moved to the Philippines, and was inactivated there on December 30, 1946.