41^st Armored Infantry Regiment

The 41st Armored Infantry Regiment was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia, on July 15, 1940, as the 41st Infantry Regiment (Armored), assigned to the 2nd Armored Division. It became the 41st Armored Infantry Regiment on January 1, 1942. Elements assaulted Fedala during Operation TORCH on November 8, 1942; the rest of the regiment sailed from New York in December and landed in North Africa on Christmas Day. The regiment then moved with the division into the Mediterranean offensive.

In Sicily, the 41st provided the infantry core for 2nd Armored Division combat commands. The 1st Battalion landed near Gela after the floating reserve came ashore, while the 3rd Battalion, reinforced by tanks, led Combat Command A's move through difficult roads toward Naro. Colonel Sidney R. Hinds led the column into Naro, and the regiment helped the armored force open the route toward Canicatti and the exploitation beyond the beaches. After Sicily the regiment trained in England for the invasion of France.

The 41st landed in Normandy on June 9, 1944. Two days later its 3rd Battalion reinforced the Auville-sur-le-Vey bridgehead during the Carentan fighting. In Operation COBRA the regiment advanced with the 2nd Armored Division through the breach, fought around St. Denis-le-Gast, and helped contain German armored columns trying to escape the Roncey pocket. Lt. Col. Wilson D. Coleman was killed while rallying troops there. The regiment continued across northern France into Belgium, Holland, and Germany, then fought in the Wurm River and Aachen approaches. Shifted to the Ardennes in December, it served in the division's counterattack around Celles, Humain, Odeigne, and Houffalize. In 1945 the regiment reentered Germany, crossed the Roer and Rhine with the division, advanced to the Weser and Leine, and fought near the Elbe bridgehead south of Magdeburg before occupation duty.