43rd Infantry Division:
The Winged Victory Division.

When the U.S. entered WW II, the 43rd Division was
allocated to the Connecticut, Maine, Rhode Island, and
Vermont National Guard and was training at Fort Blanding,
Florida. After being Federalized on February 24th, 1941,
the Division participated in the 1941 Louisiana and Carolinas
maneuvers and had two changes of station including a move to
Fort Ord, California, for amphibious training. On October 1st,
1942, the 43rd embarked for the Southwest Pacific theater and
landed in New Zealand and on Espirito Santo Island in the
New Hebrides. Members of the Division's 172nd Infantry Regiment
were on the ship Calvin Coolidge which was sunk in the New
Hebrides on October 26th, and all the Regiment's equipment
and baggage was lost.

The shoulder patch worn by the 43rd Division was approved
by the Adjutant General on March 15th, 1923. The four lobes
of the patch suggest the four states whose troops originally
made up the Division: Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and
Connecticut. The grapeleaf in the center represents the fact
that these four states once made up an area known to the
Norsemen as Vineland, and the color red indicates that this
area was originally settled by the English. The men of the
43rd adopted the Division motto while on Luzon in honor of
their Commanding Officer, Major General Leonard Wing, the
only National Guard officer in WW II to be promoted to
command an active combat Division.

Worn from:
15 March 1923 - 15 June 1954.

(Brigade)

Re-designated as the Forty-third Infantry Brigade.
Worn from:
17 August 1993 - Current.


Campaigns:
World War II
(Guadalcanal, Luzon, New Guinea, Northern Solomons).

Decorations:
Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
(streamer embroidered 17 October 1944 - 4 July 1945).

Headquarters Company (Hartford) also entitled to:
Meritorious Unit Commendation Army
(streamer embroidered Pacific Theater).