Welcom to the 3rd Infantry Division

THE STORY OF THE 3rd INFANTRY DIVISION
It was Adolph Hitler's birthday and three platoons of proud troops presented arms at the Hitler Platz in Nurnberg as a flag was raised to the top of the pole at one end of the square. A general made a short but dramatic speech.

But the ceremony was a shocking insult to Nazism. The troops were American; the flag, the Stars and Stripes; the general, an officer in the United States Army.

This was a small measure of the 3rd Infantry Division's contempt for the Nazis -- the 3rd which began its war against the Germans early Nov. 8, 1942, off the coast of French Morocco.

Thirty months later, May 8, 1945, when the Nazis surrendered unconditionally, the 3rd boasted three additional amphibious landings, eight campaign stars, 33 Congressional Medal of Honor winners and such memorable milestones as Casablanca and Tunisia in Africa; Palermo and Messina in Sicily; Monte Lungo and the Volturno River in southern Italy; the Anzio beachhead, Cisterna and Rome in central Italy; the Riviera, Rhone River Valley, Montelimar and Besancon in southern France; the Vosges Mountains, Strasbourg, the Colmar Pocket, Siegfried Line, Rhine River, Bamberg, Nurnberg, Munich, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg.

There were few veterans of the initial D-Day on hand for V-E Day in Salzburg and Berchtesgaden, a solemn day for both veterans and recruits alike. For during those 30 months, the 3rd had sustained 34,000 casualties -- more than any of the 60 divisions in the European Theater -- in its 3200 mile trail from Casablanca to Salzburg.

April 16, 1945: Nurnberg was the goal and the 3rd knew it would have a tough fight on its hands. Captured Wehrmacht and Volksturm troopers indicated a stand would be made at Nurnberg which Hitler had selected to play host to the yearly celebration of the Nazi party.