According to the book Armies, Corps, Divisions, and Separate Brigades compiled by John B. Wilson and published by the U.S. Army Center of Military History, the 76th Infantry Brigade began its existence when it was constituted as the 113th Supply Train and assigned to the 38th Division in August 1917; it was organized 22 October 1917 at Camp Shelby in Mississippi with National Guard Soldiers from Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. But in
The Brigade: A History authored by John J. McGrath and published by Combat Studies Institute Press, we read that the Brigade was originally constituted as the 76th Infantry Brigade in September 1917, consisting of the 151st and 152nd Regiments and assigned to the 88th Division.
But a search for documentation dated much closer to when these events took place reveals that out that both sources might be correct—or at least that neither is completely wrong. In
The History of the A.E.F. by Captain Shipley Thomas of the 26th U.S. Infantry Regiment, 1st Division A.E.F., we find that the 38th Division contained both the 76th Infantry Brigade and the 113th Supply Train. This would be the last time the 76th Infantry Brigade appears in the annals of military history for nearly eighty years.
Following demobilization in 1919, the 113th Supply train was reconstituted in the Indiana and Kentucky National Guard and reorganized between 1921 and 1926 by elements as the 38th Division Quartermaster Train, which was redesignated the 113th Quartermaster Regiment while still assigned to the 38th Division. The Regiment was completely dismantled in 1942, and in June 1946 several of its components were designated the 38th Quartermaster Company in the Indiana National Guard and made an element of the 38th Infantry Division. It would not receive the 76th numerical designation again until November 1965 when it became the 76th Brigade, 38th Infantry Division. It was redesignated the 76th Infantry Brigade and relieved from assignment to the 38th Infantry Division in 1994, and in 2008 it became an Infantry Brigade Combat Team.
The 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Combat Service ID Badge is taken from the Shoulder Sleeve Insignia, also called a unit patch, with the bayonet and arrowhead symbolizing the unit's primary mission and inspiring the motto, "Point the Way" (this can be found on the 76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team unit crest). The Brigade has the official special designation "Nighthawk."
Related Items
76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Patch (SSI)
76th Infantry Brigade Combat Team Unit Crest (DUI)