369^th Infantry Regiment

The 369th Infantry Regiment (Colored) was activated at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, on May 15, 1942, and assigned to the 93rd Infantry Division. After training in Arizona, Louisiana, and California, it staged at Camp Stoneman, left San Francisco on January 29, 1944, and reached Guadalcanal on February 11. It soon moved forward in detachments, beginning a wartime record defined by dispersed island defense, port support, outpost duty, and limited patrol combat across the Southwest Pacific.

The regiment arrived on New Georgia between February 29 and March 12, 1944, and was attached to VI Island Command. It defended the island until relieved by the 368th Infantry, then departed on June 26 for Emirau in the St. Matthias Group. On Emirau the 369th occupied positions across the islands, improved fortifications, and maintained defenses for an advanced Allied base. The regiment then split again: the 3rd Battalion went to Los Negros in the Admiralties on September 29, the 2nd Battalion went to Biak on October 1, and the remainder left Emirau in late October.

By November 1944 the main body was on Biak, where it served under the 41st Infantry Division and then the 3rd Engineer Special Brigade. Its missions centered on labor details, base support, and tactical patrols against remaining Japanese parties. The regiment left Biak on April 1, 1945, arrived on Morotai three days later, and sent elements to Sansapor, Middelburg Island, and later Jolo while the 3rd Battalion rejoined about April 10. On western Morotai it conducted mop-up operations and manned outposts until the end of hostilities, still divided among scattered island stations in August 1945.