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World War II
Combat chronicle
After training in Southampton, England, and the Seabank Hotel in Porthcawl, Wales[8] the 28th Infantry Division landed in Normandy, France, on 22 July 1944, and entered the hedgerow struggle north and west of Saint-Lô. Inching their way forward against desperate opposition, the men of the 28th took Percy, 1 August, and Gathemo, 10 August. On 12 August, Brigadier General Wharton was killed a few hours after assuming command. The Division began to roll north and east on 20 August, meeting light resistance except at Le Neubourg, 24 August, and Elbeuf on 25 August. 
After parading through Paris on 29 August, it continued its sustained drive through France and Luxembourg to the German border, assembling near Binsfeld on 11 September. It began hammering at the Siegfried Line the following day, destroying pillboxes and other fortifications, moved north to Elsenborn, 1 October, then returned on 6 October for patrols and rotation of troops. The 28th was tossed into the meat grinder of the Huertgen Forest, 2 November 1944, and in the savage seesaw battle which followed, Vossenack and Schmidt changed hands several times. Utterly destroyed, but on paper. 19 November, the Division moved south to hold a 25-mile sector along the Our River in Luxembourg. The Ardennes offensive was launched in Belgium on 16 December along the entire divisional front. The 28th fought doggedly in place using all available personnel and threw off the enemy timetable before withdrawing to Neufchâteau on 22 December for reorganization, as its units had been badly mauled. The Division moved to a defensive position along the Meuse River from Givet to Verdun on 2 January 1945, then to a patrol of the Vosges Mountains on 17 February. From 1 to 5 February, it participated in the reduction of the Colmar Pocket, headed for the Rhine and crossed the Rhône–Rhine Canal on 6 February. After an attack toward the Ahr River on 6 March, the 28th engaged in training, rehabilitation, and holding defensive positions. Beginning on 7 April it performed occupation duties at Juelich and Kaiserslautern until it left France.
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