The 32nd Infantry Division During World War II

Jenny Pederson: My name is Jenny Pederson, and I am the public programs manager for the Wisconsin Historical Society. And I am very excited and happy to welcome you all here today.

A quick note that the opinions or any opinions expressed today during the presentation are those of the speaker, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Wisconsin Historical Society staff members or employees.

But now we get to the matter at hand, and I am very excited to introduce Mark D. Van Ells, who is presenting “Red Arrow Across the Pacific: The 32nd Infantry Division During World War II,” based on, as I see in some of your hands today, his recently published book.

Before I hand it over, here is a brief biography of our lecturer. Mark D. Van Ells is a professor of history at Queensborough Community College of the City University of New York. He received his PhD in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a native of the Badger State.

Van Ells is also the author of To Hear Only Thunder Again: America’s World War II Veterans Come Home and America and World War I: A Traveler’s Guide.

Please join me in welcoming Mark, and enjoy the presentation.

[audience applauding]

Mark D. Van Ells: Thank you. I thank you all. I’d like to start with some thank yous. First of all, thank you to everyone involved at the Wisconsin Historical Society and Wisconsin Public Broadcasting for making this presentation possible. And I’d also like to thank all of you for coming here today.

In Wisconsin today, there are many memorials and reminders of the 32nd Division, even if we don’t notice them or even recognize them, but they’re all around us. Here’s one, for example, that might look familiar to many motorists out there. This is a road sign for State Highway 32 that runs through the eastern part of the state. It looks like just about any other highway sign that you might notice, except for the red arrows on either side.

And if you look around your own community, you might find memorials to members of the Red Arrow Division. Many communities have a Red Arrow Park where you might find some more of these memorials. So they’re all around us.

And many of us also have personal connections to the 32nd Division. I do myself, for example. This is my Great Uncle Andrew from Port Washington. He served in the First World War in the 32nd Division. Sadly, he was wounded in action and died two days later in August of 1918.

And I suspect many of you have relatives who were in the 32nd Division or one of its successor units at some point. I see some people even are still active in the 32nd today. So it’s something that’s really interwoven into the fabric of Wisconsin life.

And the 32nd Division had a remarkable record during the Second World War. It served almost the entirety of the American World War II experience, from before Pearl Harbor all the way through the occupation of Japan from 1940 to 1946.

It achieved some very important firsts in American military history. This division served more time in combat than any other U.S. Army division during the Second World War, so its record really was quite remarkable.

And yet the memory, the achievements of the 32nd Division have been forgotten by many people today, particularly outside of the Badger State.

Now, I’m a historian. I study World War II, and in particular, I study the social and cultural history of the American soldier. And in my studies, I noticed that not very much had been written about the 32nd Division. So I decided to write the book Red Arrow Across the Pacific to reintroduce the 32nd division into our state and America’s narrative, and our experience in the Second World War.

What I want to do today is give a brief overview of what the 32nd Division did during that conflict. It might be helpful to start out with some background information.

The 32nd Division was founded in 1917, very soon after the United States entered the First World War. It was composed of National Guard units from Wisconsin and Michigan. When the division finally did go into combat in 1918, it saw limited action in France. The division, however, remained in the Army after the First World War and was reactivated when the Second World War broke out.

In fact, the 32nd Division was mobilized in September of 1940, about a year before Pearl Harbor. The division headquarters was established at Camp Beauregard in Louisiana. The division at this time was composed of the 126th Infantry Regiment and the 127th Infantry Regiment from Michigan, and the 128th Infantry Regiment from Wisconsin.

The division trained through 1941, 1942 and 1943. Finally, in the spring of 1943, the division moved to Australia to prepare for deployment in the Pacific. In August of 1943, the first elements of the division arrived in the Port Moresby area of Papua New Guinea. This was to be the first of many campaigns the division would undertake in the Pacific Theater.

The first campaign that the division undertook was at Buna. Now, this was not the division’s first experience with combat. The division’s artillery had fired at the Japanese from across the Coral Sea. But this was the first time the division would fight in ground combat against the Japanese.

Now, the Buna campaign lasted from November of 1942 through January of 1943. This was the first American land victory against the Japanese in the Pacific. However, it was also one of the most costly and one of the most difficult campaigns of the war.

The terrain was absolutely horrendous. It was a swampy, bug-infested jungle where malaria and other tropical diseases were almost as deadly as enemy bullets. The fighting was fierce and the casualties were high. But the division persevered and ultimately prevailed.

After Buna, the division would go on to fight in many other campaigns. The division fought at Salamaua and Lae in New Guinea. The division then moved to the Philippines and fought at Leyte and Luzon. The division even fought on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

Throughout all of these campaigns, the division earned a reputation for being a tough and effective fighting force. The division’s commanding officers came to respect the division’s ability to accomplish difficult missions under challenging circumstances.

Now, I want to emphasize some of the achievements of the 32nd Division. The division served 654 days in combat, which was more than any other U.S. Army division during World War II. The division suffered more than 1,600 killed in action, which was the highest of any American division in the Pacific. The division also suffered more than 2,000 other battle-related deaths and more than 5,600 wounded.

In addition to these casualty figures, the division earned numerous commendations and decorations. Eleven members of the Red Arrow Division received the Medal of Honor, America’s highest decoration for valor. Two of these Medal of Honor recipients were Wisconsin soldiers: Elmer Burr of Neenah and Kenneth Gruennert of Helenville in Jefferson County. Both received their Medal of Honor for actions at Buna around Christmastime of 1942, both posthumously.

Elmer Burr threw himself on a grenade to protect those around him. Kenneth Gruennert, a high school football star, skillfully threw grenades into a Japanese bunker until he was finally shot down.

The division also earned numerous other decorations, including Distinguished Service Crosses, Silver Stars and Bronze Stars. The division was also cited for its achievements in various campaigns.

After the war ended, the division continued to serve in the occupation of Japan. The division did not return to the United States until 1946. The division was finally demobilized in February of 1946, almost six years to the day from when it was first mobilized back in the fall of 1940.

Now, I think it’s important to understand the broader context of the division’s service. The 32nd Division was not unique in its sacrifice or its service. There were many other divisions that served in the Pacific Theater and suffered similar casualties and hardships.

However, the 32nd Division’s record is a remarkable one. The division served more time in combat than any other U.S. Army division during World War II. The division was the first to fly into a combat zone and the first to defeat the Japanese in battle.

These achievements are a testament to the courage, determination and sacrifice of the men who served in the division. These were ordinary Wisconsin and Michigan men who did extraordinary things in service to their country.

The members of the Red Arrow Division were remarkably proud of their achievements and accomplishments. Anyone who questioned those accomplishments was fightin’ words. Here, for example, is a quote from a Red Arrow member who wrote an article in the Saturday Evening Post. Quote, “They’re quick to take issue, by force if necessary, with anyone who challenges the Red Arrow’s impressive array of claims to top Pacific battle honors. Barroom brawls are on record as a result of conflicting claims.”

A pride instilled not only by their experiences, but probably accentuated by the disrespect that they sometimes received from their own commanders.

Now, this year marks the 80th anniversary of World War II’s end. And we Americans today oftentimes remember World War II very fondly. We sometimes talk about the “Good War,” and we talk about the “Greatest Generation.” And this is an event in American history that’s oftentimes mythologized. It’s almost become sort of a sacred event in American history.

America triumphs over evil. There seem to be a lot of national unity and purpose that sometimes escaped us in later years. And I sometimes fear we remember the war too sentimentally.

Nostalgia and history are not quite the same thing. Nostalgia is sort of a fond remembrance of the past. History is oftentimes more stubborn and difficult.

Yes, there were a lot of great things about the Second World War. We did defeat some remarkably brutal regimes. Those who served were very, very proud to do it.

But we also need to remember what it was like for those soldiers who were sent in there to fight. We can’t think of our World War II ancestors as somehow supermen who were destined for victory, like in a movie. These were real people who came from communities like the ones that we all came from, who had to learn real hard, who sometimes suffered enormous hardship. Many never came home. Victory wasn’t inevitable. A lot of people really worked hard for it, and few worked harder than the Red Arrow Division.

Now, if you’d like to learn more, not to be a pitchman, but here’s some information about my book. Otherwise, I would like to thank you all very much for coming today.