Search here to find information about the 42d Division Headquarters, 84th Brigade, 83rd Brigade, 67th Field Artillery, and the 117th Engineers.
On April 6, 1917, the United States Congress declared war on the German Empire and entered the Great War. In the rush to mobilize troops, individual states competed with each other for the honor to be the first to send their National Guard units into combat. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker authorized the organization of a Division made up of National Guard units from 26 different states and the District of Columbia. Douglas MacArthur, who at the time was a Major working at the office of the Secretary of War, is credited with saying “The 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.” MacArthur was instrumental in the formation of the Division and was appointed its Chief of Staff and promoted to Colonel.
On February 27, 1918, the 165th (New York’s Fighting 69th re-designated as 165thwhen it became a part of the Rainbow Division) Regiment of the Rainbow Division arrived for duty in the trenches in the Rouge Bouquet sector. On March 7th at 3:20 pm, the enemy began an artillery barrage of the American trenches. One of the shells landed on the roof of a dugout in which 22 men were assembled. All 22 were buried under mud, dirt and beams. Two men were rescued and five bodies recovered. The voices of other survivors could be heard from the dugout. After hours of intense rescue efforts and under heavy enemy artillery fire, they finally had to give up any hope of reaching the remaining soldiers. The bodies of fifteen men still remained in the dugout, but recovery was impossible due to mudslides and enemy shelling.
Later, the famous Fighting 69th Chaplain 
The only American to receive the nation’s four highest awards:
The 1918 Ludendorff Offensive or “Peace Assault” was a series of German attacks along the Western Front, beginning in March 1918. This offensive marked the deepest advances by either side since 1914. The Germans had realized that their only remaining chance of victory was to defeat the Allies before the overwhelming resources of the United States could be fully deployed. They also had the temporary advantage in numbers as a result of nearly 50 divisions freed up by the Russian surrender. By the summer of 1918 they had driven a large salient into the French lines between Reims and Belleau Wood and had reached Chateau Thierry on the Marne, only 40 miles from Paris.
With the objective of splitting the French Fourth and Sixth Armies the Germans launched what turned out to be their last offensive of the war on July 15, 1918. They committed 17 divisions to attack the French Sixth Army and 23 divisions to attack the French Fourth. Information about the attack had been leaked, however, and as a result the Allied forces knew the time that the attack would begin. General Gouraud was able to employ an elastic defense-in-depth strategy, where the majority of his forces were drawn back about a mile and a half from the front lines leaving only a series of strong detached points.
The 42nd Infantry Division received the name “Rainbow Division” in 1917 during its organization at Camp Mills, Long Island, New York. The Chief of Staff of the Division at that time was Colonel Douglas MacArthur. As they were discussing the organization of the Division and reviewing the National Guard units from 26 states that would make up the Division, MacArthur commented that “The 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other.” The comment caught the interest of those present and they decided to call it the “Rainbow Division”.
Originally the shoulder patch was a complete half arc and contained thin bands in multiple colors. During the latter part of World War I and post war occupation duty in Germany, Rainbow Division soldiers modified the patch to a quarter arc, removing half the symbol to memorialize the half of the Division’s soldiers who became casualties (killed or wounded) during the war.