398^th Infantry Regiment

The 398th Infantry Regiment was organized at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, on November 15, 1942, and assigned to the 100th Infantry Division. After training in Tennessee and North Carolina, it sailed from New York on October 6, 1944, and reached France on October 20. Briefly attached to the 45th Infantry Division in early November, it entered the Vosges campaign with the division. During the Raon-l'Etape operation, elements of the regiment operated as mobile task forces: 2nd Battalion formed the core of Task Force Fooks, while 1st Battalion joined the 117th Cavalry Squadron along the Plaine River valley. On November 23, 1st Lt. Edward A. Silk of Company E received the Medal of Honor for action clearing German positions from Route N-424.

In December the 398th became central to the Bitche fight. After the division advanced through Wingen, Ingwiller, Meisenthal, Mouterhouse, Lemberg, and Reyersviller, the regiment attacked Forts Freudenberg and Schiesseck on December 14. Initial fire from Schiesseck and Otterbiel forced a withdrawal, but after artillery preparation the 398th resumed the attack on December 17, retook Freudenberg, secured entrances to Schiesseck, and by December 20 sealed the last major Schiesseck works with infantry-engineer teams.

After the March 1945 recovery of Bitche and the Rhine crossing, the 398th again drew a hard mission. On April 4, a battalion crossed the Neckar near Neckargartach north of Heilbronn and held a small bridgehead under counterattack. The regiment fought through Heilbronn's factories and streets until the city was cleared on April 12. While expanding the Offenau bridgehead, it fought the Jagstfeld battle from April 6 to April 11; Pfc. Mike Colalillo of the 398th later received the Medal of Honor for that fighting. The regiment crossed the Murr at Murrhardt on April 19 and ended the war in the Stuttgart-Backnang area.