United States Army 106th Infantry Division (Golden Lion)

U. S. ARMY 106TH INFANTRY (GOLDEN LION DIVISION) -  The 106th Infantry Division was a division of the United States Army formed for service during World War II.  Two of its three regiments were overrun and surrounded in the initial days of the Battle of the Bulge, and they were forced to surrender to German forces on December 19, 1944.  The division was never officially added to the troop list following the war, despite having been almost completely organized in Puerto Rico by 1948; subsequently, the War Department determined the division was not needed and inactivated the division headquarters in 1950.  Nicknamed "Golden Lion" from the shoulder patch:  A blue disc within a white edge, a gold lion's face all within a red border.  Symbolism:  The blue is for infantry, while the red represents artillery support.  The lion's face represents strength and power.

• Activated on March 15, 1943 with a cadre from the 80th Infantry Division at Fort Jackson, South Carolina
• Moved to Camp Atterbury, Indiana, on 28 March 28, 1944
• Arrived in England, November 17, 1944, and trained for 19 days
• Moved to France 6 December 6, 1944, where the division joined the ongoing Rhineland Campaign
• 106th Infantry Division crossed into Belgium on December 10, 1944
• Relieved from assignment to Rhineland Campaign on December 16, and assigned to Ardennes-Alsace Campaign
• Ardennes-Alsace Campaign terminated January 25th.  Division resumed assignment to Rhineland Campaign
• 106th Infantry Division returned to France on March 16th.
• Central Europe Campaign started on March 22nd
• On April 23rd, the Frontier Command segment of the German Occupation started
• 106th Infantry Division entered Germany on April 25th
• On May 8, 1945, Germany signed its surrender
• Inactivated October 2, 1945 at Camp Shanks, New York
• Activated May 1, 1948 at San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Inactivated October 12, 1950 at San Juan, Puerto Rico

WWII Casualties

• Total battle casualties: 8,627
• Killed in action: 417
• Wounded in action: 1,278
• Missing in action: 235
• Prisoner of war: 6,697

Notable Members

• Kurt Vonnegut served in this division and used his experiences during the Battle of the Bulge (and captivity as a prisoner of war) in his novel Slaughterhouse-Five.
• Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds (died 1985), who was captured on December 19, 1944 as a member of the 422nd Infantry Regiment, was recognized in 2015 by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum as the first American serviceman from World War II to be honored with the title Righteous Among The Nations for risking his life to save Jewish-American POWs under his command from being taken from the POW camp in Germany to concentration camps, where they likely would have been murdered or worked to death.
• Futurologist Donald Prell served as the leader of an anti-tank platoon in the 422nd Infantry Regiment, and several years following the war, researched the “biological basis of personality” after having been captured and undergoing being bombed while locked in a boxcar with 59 other POWs and then being starved whilst in a German POW camp.