(From the Stanly News & Press)
North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue, Congressman Larry Kissell (NC-08), and Maj. Gen. William E. Ingram, Jr., the Adjutant General of the N.C. National Guard, will honor the 30th Infantry Division during a ceremony Thursday afternoon at the Old House Chamber in the State Capitol in Raleigh.
Kissell introduced a resolution, H. Res. 494, in the U.S. House of Representatives, to honor the exemplary service of the 30th Infantry Division during World War II.
The 30th Infantry Division, known as the Old Hickory after President Andrew Jack-son, is a predecessor to the 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team of the N.C. Army National Guard and is currently deployed to Iraq. The ceremony will honor the 30th Infantry Division's service in World War II.
The 30th was formed from National Guard Units from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee. The division began its service in July of 1917 and deployed for World War I.
In 1941, the division was again mobilized for World War II, becoming one of most highly-decorated infantry divisions. By the end of its service in WWII, it had captured more than 65,000 Ger-man prisoners and earned praise from the official historian of the European Theater of Operations, S.L.A. Mar-shall, as the most outstanding infantry division in Europe. The Division received six Congressional Medals of Honor along with 20,000 Purple Hearts and some 8,000 other awards for heroism.
The event is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. in the Old House Chamber on the Second Floor of the N.C. State Capitol Building, One East Edenton Street, Raleigh, and then move to the World War II Memorial on the Capitol grounds.