16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division

16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. “Always Prepared”. Constituted on 3 May 1861, the 16th Infantry Regiment distinguished itself in the Civil War, Indian Wars, War with Spain, Philippine Insurrections, and World War I. Before Operation Overlord, the regiment had already served in the Big Red One's amphibious assaults during Operations Torch (1942) and Husky, 1943. Overlord's battle plan envisioned the l6th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) coming ashore at H-Hour in the Easy Red and Fox Green sectors of Omaha Beach; the 2nd and 3rd Battalions would land abreast with the 1st Battalion in reserve. The 16th RCT was to reduce beach defenses in its area of operations, secure and occupy inland objectives while making and keeping lateral contact with the 116th RCT and British 50th Division, cover the next waves of the First Division's assault, and, on order, extend the beachhead to the south and southwest. , , Poor weather, inadequate preparatory fires, and a battle hardened defender undid the plan. Violent seas swamped the regiment's supporting weapons and swept landing craft eastward, intermingling the 2nd and 3rd Battalions in the entrance to Fox Green. A few troopers from Company E scrambled overland to Fox Red and established a seven-yard-wide beachhead. Before they could expand it, hundreds of troops debarked in that narrow killing zone. Casualties became exponential and the situation hopeless, but "officers and men gathered the remnants of their units together, and slowly, with groups being cut down almost as soon as formed, began to develop from a confused, hurt mass into a cohesive, determined fighting force." The War Department's recommendation for a unit award goes on to cite "innumerable acts of gallantry" , ,

Men lay in the flat, mine-strewn meadows in plain view of the enemy and returned the direct fire of protected enemy artillery and machine guns with rifle and rocket launcher fire. Leaderless men attached themselves to the forming groups. A breach was blown in the wire and the regiment advanced. Human mine markers lay in the minefields guiding the passage of the battling troops. With grim determination, suffering terrible casualties, the regiment forced its way forward in a frontal assault on five principal enemy strong points. They engaged the enemy and, in a magnificent display of courage and will to win, destroyed them.

, , For such actions, the 16th Infantry, on 2 July 1944, received its third Presidential Unit Citation. "I'm not going to make a long speech," General Eisenhower said, "but this simple little ceremony gives me an opportunity to come over here, and through you [the survivors and replacements], say thanks. You are the finest regiment in our army. I know your record from the day you landed in North Africa, and through Sicily. I am beginning to think that your regiment is a sort of Praetorian Guard, which goes along with me and gives me luck.' , , In memory of my dear friend SSGT Wendell Oliver Bray, 1st Division, Company A, 26th Infantry Regiment. SSGT Bray was killed in action on 8 June 1944, as he stood by my side. Given by SGT Earl Daniel Doran, who landed on D-Day with the 16th RCT.