7th Infantry Division

The 7th Infantry Division is an active duty infantry division of the United States Army based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord. The 7th Infantry Division has seen continuous combat action ever since our activation during World War I in 1917. From Europe, to our own Aleutian Islands, the Pacific, Japan, Korea, and Afghanistan, the Bayonet Division boasts of proud history of answering the call on behalf of our nation.

We enable and sustain the combat readiness of two Stryker brigade combat teams and a combat aviation brigade. Strategically, we participate in several yearly exercises and operations in support of U.S. Army Pacific and the Indo-Pacific region designed to build capability and capacity in our allies and partners.

In an era of Strategic Competition, our nation has seen a resurgence of potential threats all around the world. Specific to our area of operations – the Indo-Pacific region – our role in maintaining, certifying, exercising, and deploying combat ready forces on behalf of the United States as part of the joint force has never been more crucial. We are ready to fight and win!

History of the 7th Infantry Division

The Bayonet Division was forged December 6th, 1917 as part of the American Expeditionary Force in France in World War I. The Division entered the fight in historic fashion, setting the troop carrying record for the War when the entire 14,000 Soldier Division transited the Atlantic aboard a single ship, the USS Leviathan. Upon arrival in October 1918, the 7th immediately joined the line in the Saint Mihiel woods and began probing attacks near Preny. “Hourglass” Soldiers then fought up the Moselle River, rapidly capturing key terrain and driving the Germans out of the Bois duTrou de la Haie Salient. Following initial success, the Division was preparing for the Second Army’s drive on the Hindenburg line when Armistice was reached and the war ended.

In the Second World War, the “Lucky 7th” initially patrolled the coast of California from its homestation at Fort Ord, protecting the homeland from Japanese attack. In the spring of 1943, the Bayonets were called upon to move west into the Pacific, expelling Japanese invaders from Alaska in brutal arctic combat in May of 1943 before a brief reset on Oahu, HI. From Hawaii, the Division aggressively pushed Imperial forces west through bitter, close combat. 7ID Soldiers fought from Kwajalein Atoll and the Marshall Islands to Leyte in the Philippines before securing the victory and raising the American Flag on Okinawa. After Okinawa, the Division continued to Korea to liberate the Peninsula from Japanese control then restationed to Camp Fuji, Japan in 1948 at the end of US Military Governance on the Korean Peninsula.

When the North Koreans invaded South Korea in June of 1950, the 7th Infantry Division was immediately augmented with over 8,000 Korean Soldiers then sailed across the Eastern Sea and “plunged the bayonet into the heart of the enemy” at the Inchon Landing in September and subsequent liberation of Seoul. After Inchon, the Bayonet Division conducted another massive amphibious assault on Iwon before moving violently north to the Yalu River, the farthest north any element advanced in the Korean War. In November 1950, Bayonet Soldiers under LTC Don Faith bore the brunt of the Communist Chinese Forces as they forcefully entered the fray, decimating 1-31 IN. The Bayonet Soldiers retrograded and rejoined the fight at Heartbreak Ridge, Triangle Hill, Porkchop Hill, and Old Baldy, where the Division was on the line when the Armistice was reached in July 1953. The Division remained on the line at the Demilitarized Zone until 1971.

In 1971, the Division returned to Fort Lewis, its first time on U.S. soil since 1943. In 1985 the Division was selected as the vanguard element of the new “Lightfighter Initiative” and returned to its pre-war home of Fort Ord, CA. The “Lightfighters” were called to Honduras in 1988 for "Operation Golden Pheasant" then to Panama in 1989-90 for "Operation Just Cause."

In the summer of 2015, the 7th Infantry Division deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan to assume responsibility for the Train, Advise, and Assist Command (TAAC) South mission from the 1st Cavalry Division. After one year in Afghanistan, 7ID completed its mission, conducted a transfer of authority with the 36th Infantry Division, and returned to Joint Base Lewis-McChord on 27 June 2016.

Today the 7th Infantry Division maintains three fit, lethal, and unbeatable brigades and stands ready to deploy, engage, and destroy the enemies of the United States!

Trust In Me!