US Army Training Center - Yearbook (Fort Bragg, NC)

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JOH . RPHY iiliialiiliii iiiziiiziiiiii, U. S. A. COMMANDING GENERAL, 'I00th DIVISION ARTILLERY Brigadier General John B, Murphy was born in Macedonia, Iowa, on June I6, I898, and attended Texas A. 81 M. and the United States Military Academy and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Field Artillery on November l, l9I8. Shortly thereafter he was assigned to make a tour of observation and study of European battlefields of World War l. Returning to the United States, he taught Military Science and Tactics at Utah Uni- versity and was later assigned to Hawaii. He later returned to instruct ROTC classes at Ohio State U ' 't . nlvelil ll938, he attended the Command and General Staff School and later moved to Fort Bragg, N, CW where he became Post executive officer in January, l94l. He was promoted to the temporary rank of Brigadier General on April 27, I943, and was assigned to the Seventh Armored Division as a combat der. COmml?qnOCf0ber, l943, he was assigned to the lO0th Infantry Division as artillery commander, replac- ing Brig. Gen. Theodore E. Buechler. .

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lit. ii. AURICE L. ILLER iziiliiiilililiz. GENEIIAI. li U. S. A. ASSISTANT COMMANDING GENERAL, 100th INFANTRY DIVISION Brigodier General Maurice L. Miller was born in Oronoco, Minnesota, on September I9, I894, ond following graduation from the United States Military Academy was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry on June l3, I9I6. In World War I, he sailed for France in August, I9I8, and shortly afterward became a battalion commander in the 34th Infantry. He was wounded in action on October 15, l9l8, neor Thiaucourt. He returned to the United States in June, 1919, and later became an instructor at the U.S.M.A. He has since been graduated from the Advanced Course at the Infantry School and the Command and General Staff School. In August, I938, he became a member of the Infantry Board. Assigned to the l00th Infantry Division as Assistant Division Commander, he received a promo- tion to the temporary rank of Brigadier General on November I3, I942. -

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Q . A IlISTORY 0F THE 100th Every man of the lOOth Division has special events he keeps in his mental diary of life in the Division, and probably no two men keep the same record, for no two men have quite the same impressions, even of the same occurrences. Just about everyone came by train to Fort Jackson, S. C., where the lOOth was formed, but every last one of us have in- dividual recollections about the trip: to some, it was a cindery, jolting car voyage, in ancient wooden cars with pot-bellied stoves and stove-pipes, and to others, a mysterious journey into the great beyond, where destination is unknown until the officer announced on the siding that you were bound for the lOOth Division, Fort Jackson. And the same goes for different inter- pretations of the dozens of things that happened in the lOOth in rapid-fire succession: the greeting at the train that early morning, meeting the noncoms, the first kitchen police and guard, first GI movie, and trip to Columbia, the first 'drills and lectures, dry firing and then the real thing at the range during raw, frosty March. The first Maggie's drawers, and first bull's eye . . . and how good it was to have that warm shower after this first week beyond the comforts of civilization. All these events are remembered well, and no written history is necessary to recall them except maybe a few reminders. So here they are, a few high spot doings that happened from the date of the lOOth Division's birth up to its present training: ACTIVATION took place at Fort Jackson, S. C., in cere- monies which had as its troops the noncommissioned officer cadre taken from the 76th Division, then at Fort George G. Meade, Md. Commander of the 76th Division, Maj. Gen. Emil F. Reinhardt, presented the Century's colors to Maj. Gen. With- ers A, Burress, the lOOth commander, symbolizing the ties of the two divisions. Maj. Gen. William H. Simpson, then com- mander of XII Corps, of which the lOOth was a unit, sounded the keynote for the division's training, calling for preparation which should lead to success in battle. ARRIVAL OF TRCOPS followed shortly after the activation, and men fresh from every kind of civilian pursuit flowed into the area of hutments which was the lOOth Division's home. The soldiers about to begin their training had come from all over the eastern half of the United States, with most hailing from the Atlantic seaboard states. The bulk of these were inducted from reception centers at Fort Devens, Mass., Camp UDIOYL N- Y-1 Fort Dix, N. J., Fort Jackson, S. C., and Fort McPherson, Ga. With the start of training, the lOOth Division began to make whatever history there was to be of the Division, for no division of that designation had previously existed. A lOOth Division was almost formed in World War l, but activation plans were cancelled with the signing of the Armistice, and the Division's commanding officer, Brig. Gen. W. B. Cochran, was ordered from Camp Bowie, Texas, to another assignment. BASIC TRAINING was the beginning of the process which transformed civilians into soldiers-and men puffing over the obstacle course knew there was no easy way. Other Americans and Allied service men over the world were using in battle the Iessons'learned in just such basic and advanced training, they had travelled the same road, and men of the lOOth were im- Z INFANTR Y IIIVISIUN pressed with the necessity of gaining all possible during each training day. Centurymen, in fleeting reports gotten in bar- racks radios and glances at newspaper headlines, saw the war commencing a gigantic turn in the Allies' favor: The Russians were beginning their immense winter push, demolishing and surrounding the German forces at Stalingrad, the British were driving the Nazis across the length of Africa's Mediterranean coastline, while Americans closed in from the west on Tunisia, our forces in the South Pacific were taking Guadalcanal in their first important ground victory, and advancing in New Guinea, while our planes were hitting the Japs hard. But tremendous work still lay ahead, and Centurymen plunged on through the training which would make them capable of joining in accomplishing it. Standing out near the end of basic training was the first Division review, the first time that the new men had seen their whole Division assembled at once in a single place. Honored at the ceremony was Governor Olin D. Johnston, of South Carolina, who congratulated the lOOth on what it had accomplished in a short training period. Official recognition of the strides made during this initial training in soldiering came after completion of tests adminis- tered the XII Corps. The most extensive tests ever given a unit at Fort Jackson, they embraced all basic subjects, including military courtesy, map and aerial photograph reading, close and extended order drill, and technical subjects, such as marches, bivouacs, firing of weapons, tactics, and other combat operations. A XII Corps summary of the results of the tests described the Division's results as very satisfactory. SUCCEEDED TRAINING PHASES of the Division brought new soldiers together into fighting teams and life in the field. At first, week-long encampments were made on Fort Jackson's reservation, with the expedients of field life learned by doing them: tenting so the mosquitoes, water, and wind were avoided, keeping equipment together and in working order, eating out of messkits and keeping canteens full. At the same time there was the regular training which threw together men into fighting units. Later phases welded different branches into powerful fighting arms, with field artillery, infantry, and engineers en- gaged in combat problems. COMBAT TEAM EXERCISES were held throughout the sum- mer over the northern half of South Carolina, with one team pitted against another in simulated battle conditions. Here, lessons in field life and individual and unit tactics were put to use, while road marches added stamina to Centurymen's con- dition. LARGER EXERCISES followed in the late fall and winter, and men of the Division who worked, slept, and fought simulated battles together, began to know that they were ready to face the gruelling hardships of combat. . STAY AT FORT BRAGG, N.-C., came as hotel life to the Division after this extended period afield. As the Division streamed into the post late in January, every soldier will remem- ber with joy the welcome sight of barracks, shower rooms, and just plain warm rooms and beds. Training, however, did not slow down by any means, but, if anything, increased in severity. The big job lay ahead and there could not be too much prep- aration. '