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WHEREAS, in 1921, the War Department assigned the 99th Division to the Western Pennsylvania Region with Pittsburgh as its headquarters, prompting the Division to adopt the city's Coat of Arms, “the Checkerboard”, as its own for the shoulder sleeve patch; and,
WHEREAS, a small cadre of officers and noncoms served in anonymity for twenty years until the United States entered into World War II and the 99th Division was mobilized into active service in 1943. They began training in November, 1942, at Camp Van Dorn, Mississippi and Camp Maxey, Texas before departing for Europe in October of 1944; and,
WHEREAS, the 99th Infantry Division was assigned to the Ardennes Forest in Belgium where on December 16, 1944, they bore the brunt of the German counter-offensive which became known as the Battle of the Bulge in which isolated squads and platoons held off German mechanized forces long enough for the division to regroup on Elsenborn Ridge; and,
WHEREAS, in March of 1945, they participated in the capture of the Ludendorf Bridge at Remagen, securing a crossing of the Rhine for the Allied Force. When the war ended, the Division was in Czechoslovakia after which it returned to the United States and was inactivated in September of 1945; and,
WHEREAS, in 1967, the U.S. Army Reserve created twenty national subordinate commands, reviving the 99th in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia as the 99th Army Reserve Command, and at that time, brought back the old Checkerboard unit patch; and,
WHEREAS, it has since served with distinction in Vietnam, Desert Storm and the current Global War on Terror and in 2005, was reorganized to include Pennsylvania, Delaware Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and New England with headquarters at Fort Dix, New Jersey; and,
WHEREAS, on April 19, 2009, an era in the history of Western Pennsylvania and the Army Reserve ends as the 99th cases its Colors at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and departs from its traditional hom...
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