345^th Infantry Regiment

The 345th Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp McCain, Mississippi, on December 15, 1942, and trained with the 87th Division before sailing from New York on October 17, 1944. It reached England on October 22, landed in France on December 5, and entered combat as the division took over the Metz sector. On December 8 the 345th began relieving the 2nd Infantry near Fort Driant, just after that fortress surrendered, then moved with the division toward the fortified Saar-German frontier.

In the Ardennes, the regiment formed the weighted right of the 87th Division's December 30 attack from Bras toward the Bastogne-St. Hubert road. Its advance guard reached the Moircy area after a long truck move but was stopped short of the crossroads by fire across snow-covered ground. The 345th captured Remagne on December 31, then yielded the right-wing advance to the 347th while reorganizing. After the division shifted to Luxembourg and Belgium, the regiment returned to the German frontier, captured Olzheim on February 8, and took Neuendorf the next day during the Schnee Eifel fighting.

The 345th attacked with the 346th against remaining West Wall positions on February 26, helped force Ormont by March 1, and joined the March drive across the Kyll toward the Ahr. With Task Force Muir it took Wiesbaum and Mirbach on March 7, and the division seized the Ahrhutte bridge on March 8. On March 16 the 345th crossed the Moselle with the 347th, then fought house to house in Koblenz until Fort Constantine fell. At Boppard on March 25, two battalions crossed the Rhine, gained high ground inside the river bend, and later broke from the cliffs as German resistance collapsed.