24th Infantry Division (United States)

24th Infantry Division
24th Infantry Division shoulder sleeve insignia, with Taro leaf
Active	1921–1970 1975–1996 1999–2006
Country	United States
Branch	United States Army
Type	Infantry
Role	Mechanized infantry
Size	Division (12,500–14,500) Mobilization (35,000–50,000)
Nickname(s)	"Taro Division", "Victory Division" (special designation)[1]
Motto(s)	First to Fight
Engagements	World War II New Guinea campaign Battle of Leyte Battle of Luzon Battle of Mindanao Korean War Battle of Osan Battle of Pusan Perimeter 1958 Lebanon crisis Gulf War Operation Desert Storm
Commanders
Notable commanders	Complete list
Insignia
Distinctive unit insignia
Combat service identification badge

The 24th Infantry Division was an infantry division of the United States Army that was inactivated in October 1996. Formed during World War II from the disbanding Hawaiian Division, the division saw action throughout the Pacific theater, first fighting in New Guinea before landing on the Philippine islands of Leyte and Luzon, driving Japanese forces from them. Following the end of the war, the division participated in occupation duties in Japan, and was the first division to respond at the outbreak of the Korean War. For the first 18 months of the war, the division was heavily engaged on the front lines with North Korean and Chinese forces, suffering over 10,000 casualties. It was withdrawn from the front lines to the reserve force for the remainder of the war after the second battle for Wonju, but returned to Korea for patrol duty at the end of major combat operations.

After its deployment in the Korean War, the division was active in Europe and the United States during the Cold War. It was based at Fort Stewart, Georgia and later reactivated at Fort Riley, Kansas. It did not see combat again until the Persian Gulf War, when it faced the Iraqi military. A few years after that conflict, it was inactivated as part of the post-Cold War U.S. military drawdown of the 1990s. The division was reactivated in October 1999 as a formation for training and deploying U.S. Army National Guard units before its deactivation in October 2006.