Americal Division

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The 23rd Infantry Division, also known as the Americal Division, was an infantry division of the United States Army during World War II from 1942 to 1945, briefly in the mid 1950s and the Vietnam War from 1967-71. The division was activated 27 May 1942 on the island of New Caledonia in the Southwest Pacific Ocean. In the immediate emergency following Pearl Harbor, the United States had hurriedly sent a task force to defend New Caledonia against a feared Japanese attack. This division was the only division formed outside of the United States during World War II (a distinction it would repeat when reformed in 1967). At the suggestion of a subordinate, the division's commander, Major General Alexander Patch, requested that the new unit be known as the Americal Division—the name being a contraction of "American, New Caledonian Division". This was unusual, as with the exception of the Philippine Division, all other active U.S. divisions were known by a number. After World War II the Americal...

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