Although it was originally constituted in the National Guard on 14 August 1917, the 42nd Infantry Division was unique among its fellow Guard units in that it was intentionally composed of Guardsmen from a huge swath of states—26 in all—and the District of Columbia. Looking over the completed Division’s composition, Colonel Douglas MacArthur (he played a significant role in the unit’s creation) remarked that “the 42nd…stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.”
The Division was immediately given the nickname “Rainbow,” and it was an obvious motif when the Division’s Shoulder Sleeve Insignia (unit patch) was designed. The imagery lives on in the unit’s Combat Service ID Badge, created with introduction of the Army Service Uniform to replace the old colored unit patches that had been worn on the Class A/B Army Green Uniform.
Currently a part of the New York Army National Guard, the 42nd Infantry Division has been activated for Federal service on several occasions, but for a brief period—1943 to 1946—it was a unit in the United States Army. During that time, it earned credit for participation in three Campaigns in the European Theater (Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace, Central Europe).
Related Items
42nd Infantry Division Patch (SSI)
42nd Infantry Division Unit Crest (DUI)