22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division

22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. "Deeds Not Words”. The 22nd Infantry Regiment served with distinction in a number of the nation's early conflicts before joining the 4th Infantry Division in 1923. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Regiment trained for two years before embarking for England in January 1944, under the command of Colonel Hervey A. Tribolet. For the next five months, the unit trained and made its final preparations for the Normandy landing. , , In accordance with the Division's plans for D-Day, the Regiment provided its 3rd Battalion to go ashore with the 8th Infantry, the first infantry regiment to land on Utah Beach. With the lead regiment ashore by 0800 hours, Colonel Tribolet could take the 22nd Infantry's 1st and 2nd Battalions ashore. By noon, he had moved both units inland to secure the causeways spanning the flooded tidal flat; by late afternoon, and with few casualties, his soldiers had advanced more than a mile through the swampy marshland to relieve the 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment and establish positions at St. Germain-de-Varreville on the 4th Division's right flank. , , From D+1 through D+3, the 22nd Infantry undertook and struggled to accomplish the onerous mission of reducing two major enemy strong points near Utah Beach and capturing heavily fortified battery positions inland and west of the inundated coastal swamps. Attacking at 0700 hours on D+1, with the 1st Battalion on the right and the 2nd Battalion on the left, the undaunted 22nd Infantry soldiers fought their way through minefields and barbed wire entanglements toward massive concrete forts at Crisbecg and Azeville. Repeated assaults notwithstanding, the Azeville fortifications held out for several days, falling on the afternoon of D+3 when the fort's ammunition stores exploded during an attack by the 3rd Battalion, which had rejoined the Regiment that day. , , Receiving new orders to bypass Crisbecq and the other German strong points along the coastal headlands, the 22nd Infantry became part of a task force directed to swing northeast to capture Quinéville, the eastern anchor of the German defenses. After several days' desperate fighting, Quinéville fell, enabling the 4th Division to secure its northern flank. Despite enduring numerous and severe casualties during the first week of combat in Normandy, the 22nd Infantry soldiers embodied the regimental motto, “Deeds not Words." , , Adding to its laurels a Presidential Unit Citation for distinguished service in Normandy and subsequent awards for combat actions in France, Belgium, and Germany, the 22nd Infantry Regiment returned after war's end to Camp Butner, North Carolina, and was inactivated there on 1 March 1946. , In loving memory of Ray A. Wingfield Sr. And Kathryn Carter Wingfield. And John L. (Jack) Carter Jr. and Lucia T. Carter. Given by Bill and Jane Wingfield.