300th Infantry Regiment

I need information on the 300th Infantry Regiment based at Fort Benning, Georgia. They were a separate unit not assigned to a division. My father was assigned to this regiment from December 1942 until February 1943 and I'm trying to find out what was his duties and what he did.
Thanks,
Darryl

 

According to Stanton's WWII Order of Battle, the 300th Infantry Regiment was activated on 10 Dec 42 at Ft. Benning Ga. under the the Replacement & School Command to serve as a crack demonstration regiment for the Infantry School;moved to Camp McCain Miss 4 Apr 44 under XXI Corps and assigned to the IX Corps 22 Aug. 44; transferred to Ft. Jackson S.C. on 28 Aug 44, and assigned to XXIII Corps on 25 Sep 44 and to Second Army on 20 Oct 44; arrived at Camp Rucker Ala 5 apr 45 under Replacement & School Command where inactivated on 26 Sep 45.

Aug 45 Location: Camp Rucker Alabama





Hope this helps a little bit, good luck with your search.

 

As a separate unit that never went overseas, it will probably be a bit more difficult to find info on the unit. You may want to try researching your father's records first. Do you have his discharge orders/DD-215? They may have some helpful info. If not, it is possible to find his ASN with just his name and home town at the time he was inducted/enlisted.

 

I am always amazed at the number of variations that can be found for how one becomes a soldier in WWII. No matter how many stories I encounter the next always seems unique.

I hope you share more information about your father's service but until then I feel free to speculate.

If he entered service November or December 1942 and left the 300th Infantry in February 1943 it makes sense that he did his basic and infantry training with them and was turned out as an infantry replacement (or he volunteered for something else).


The Regular 29th Infantry was the demonstration unit at Ft Benning before the 300th Infantry and returned there after the war. I know the 29th Infantry made it to Europe along with a number of other separate infantry regiments. They mostly performed rear area security functions. Other separate infantry regiments performed garrison functions around the outposts of the western hemisphere.

I believe at Ft Benning the primary school there was the Infantry Officers Candidate School (jokingly referred to as The Ft Benning School for Boys).

Some concrete examples of what a demonstration unit might do include demonstrating various techniques/formations for a platoon or company to maneuver on the battlefield. The student class would assemble on some bleachers overlooking an open field. With commentary from the instructor, the demonstration unit would advance across the field and demonstrate tactical formations with the techniques for stop, go, move online, change direction and such. In a similar vein they could demonstrate a full attack with blanks, simulated artillery (sometimes aircraft) and an "enemy". Then, of course, the students would run through similar drills with their "class units".

The final student exercises included force-on-force field training. The demonstration unit might provide the Red Force units (friendly forces being Blue). Not really certain about this because other student units could have also provided the Red Force.

With Ft Benning being the source of infantry doctrine for the US Army, the demonstration unit might have also worked with those officers charged with writing the Field Manuals.


Final note, a number of these separate infantry regiments had late war assignments to the Replacement & School Command at former divisional camps like McCain, Rucker, etc. I am not sure what was happening. They may have been there to set-up new replacement schools or maybe they were to be dis-banded and the fit members put into the replacement system. Or maybe they were labor to guard and shut down the camp. Just not sure.

Another quick reply turned into a mini-thesis, hope you find something useful there...

 

I did get my father's OMPF and fortunately nearly 98% of it survived the 1973 fire. As TD-Tommy776 says as a separate unit that never went overseas it is difficult to find out anything about the 300th Infantry Regiment. From my father's OMPF and other research I was able to complete his entire military history from the time he enlisted until he was discharged. In December 1942 he was assigned to Company G, 2nd Battalion, 300 Infantry Regiment at Ft. Benning. They were a demostration unit for the Officer's Candidate School. In February 1944 he was reassigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 358th Infantry Regiment, 90th Infantry Division at Ft. Dix, NJ and it was with that unit that he landed at Utah Beach and thus entered the battle. He stayed with the unit until December 1944 when he developed trench foot and could not return to his duties as an infantryman. In March 1945 he was transferred to the Army Air Corps/Army Air Force as a Duty Soldier III. He was transferred between many units of the AAC until he was finally discharged in December 1945. He received the Combat Infantryman Badge, Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart, Army Good Conduct Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with four bronze stars and bronze arrowhead, World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany bar, French Croix de Guerre with palm, Distinquished Unit Citation, and Meritorious Unit Citation with one oak leaf cluster.

Darryl

 

Congratulations, you lucked out Darryl. If you haven't done so already, visit the 90th ID website.
90thDivisionAssociation

Check out the section called "The 90th WWII Report Project" which has divisional AAR's and a lot of General Orders, both divisional and regimental. You might find your father's name in a GO?

 

Steve,
I did join the 90th Division Association after I found out my father was part of that unit. I pretty much know my father's entire military history other than his year at Ft. Benning with the 300th Infantry Regiment. With the 300th IR being a separate unit never assigned to a division and never going overseas I've found out that there's not any information out there about them. They were simply a demonstration unit for the Officers Candidate School. I got a copy of all of the General Orders that mention my father and a copy of all of the General Orders where any of his units were given awards or citations. By the way if anyone is interested you can find the War Department (WD) and Department of the Army (DA) General Orders on the Ft. Benning website.
Darryl

 

That is fantastic news, Darryl! You really did strike gold. Congrats and thanks for sharing it with us.

 

When The Infantry School expanded to provide Infantry OCS, in addition to its 29th Infantry it also received the 124th Infantry from the 31st Division of the Florida National Guard. When TIS expanded to three student training regiments it was authorized to activate the 300th Infantry. As OCS was reduced and battlefield commissions were increased, the 29th Infantry left for Europe and the 124th Infantry for the Pacific.

The following quote is from a veteran of the 124th Infantry of his time at Ft Benning.

Told at last! The forgotten Battle of the Drinuimor River

 

Darryl,

I know I'm a little late to the party, but I have a lot of information about the 300th Regiment at Fort Benning. My father, from South Carolina, was a second lieutenant in the 300th Regiment the same time as your father was in the regiment. have a booklet the unit published in March 1943 to celebrate the activation of the regiment. If you're still looking for that kind of information, please let me know and I'll get a copy to you.

Phil Moise
Atlanta, GA