Organized in December of 1917 at Camp Greene, North Carolina, the 4th Infantry Division was given its nickname "Ivy Division" by its first Commander, Major General George Cameron. Pronouncing the components of the Roman numeral IV yields the word "Ivy," a plant whose leaves are symbolic of loyalty and tenacity.
Arriving in France in April, 1918 after just 17 days of outdoor training, the division's first major engagement with the enemy came in the Allies' St. Mihiel offensive, where it and other U.S. units earned the respect of their British and French counterparts. It followed this baptism by fire by taking part in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive that ended with German capitulation and the signing of the Armistice, and was subsequently inactivated in 1921.
After reactivation in 1940 and taking part in amphibious training exercises at Fort Benning (renamed Fort Moore in October 2023), the division was the first of the Allied forces to come ashore at Utah Beach on D-Day. The success of the landing was due in no small part to the actions of the division's Brigadier General Theodore Roosevelt Jr., who after coming ashore alongside his soldiers located the causeways the troops would use for the advance inland. (Roosevelt died on July 12 of a heart attack and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions on D-Day.) The division advanced north and took Cherbourg by June 25, then turned south to encircle a force of some 200,000 Germans in Falaise Gap. Afterwards, it aided Free French Forces in the liberation of Paris before taking part in the Battle of the Bulge and the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, which lasted until February 1945.
The outbreak of the Vietnam War brought elements of the 4th Infantry Division to Southeast Asia in the summer of 1966, where bases were established in the central highlands and along the southern coast. Notable engagements included clashes near Dak To, where the unit neutralized a major NVA offensive by obliterating the operational capabilities of two regiments, and fighting around Pleiku during the Tet Offensive of 1968.
During the Iraq War in 2003, the 4th Infantry Division advanced rapidly through Baghdad and Samarra, and on December 13 the unit’s 1st Brigade Combat Team captured Saddam Hussein. The unit’s deployments to Southwest Asia include two more to Iraq, one to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom, and a nine-month deployment in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in 2015.
The 4th Infantry Division’s motto, “Steadfast and Loyal,” can be found on its Unit Crest (see below).
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4th Infantry Division Patch (SSI)4th Infantry Division Unit Crest (DUI)