88th Readiness Division
1917-1947 United States Army formation
The 88th Readiness Division is an administrative formation of the United States Army Reserve. It traces its history to the 88th Infantry Division, a infantry division of the United States Army that saw service in both World War I and World War II. It was one of the first of the Organized Reserve divisions to be called into federal service, created nearly "from scratch" after the implementation of the draft in 1940. Previous divisions were composed of a core of either Regular Army or National Guard personnel plus draftees. Much of the experience in reactivating it was used in the subsequent expansion of the U.S. Army.
By the end of the Second World War the division fought its way to the northernmost extreme of Italy. In early May 1945 troops of its 349th Infantry Regiment joined the 103d Infantry Division of the VI Corps of the U.S. Seventh Army, which had raced south through Bavaria into Innsbruck, Austria, in Vipiteno in the Italian Alps.
History
World War I
Activated: 5 August 1917, Camp Dodge, Iowa
Overseas: 7 September 1918
Casualties: Total-78 (KIA-12; WIA-66)
Commanders:
Maj. Gen. Edward H. Plummer (25 August 1917)
Brig. Gen.
“88th Readiness Division” enters the record as 1917-1947 United States Army formation. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what 88th, Readiness and Division can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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