See 'Rainbow Soldier' Sculpture at Union Station, Montgomery, Alabama

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When the U.S. declared war on Germany in 1917, it federalized National Guard divisions to quickly build up an Army. In addition, Douglas MacArthur, then a major, suggested to William A. Mann, the head of the Militia Bureau, that another division be formed from the non-divisional units of several states. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker approved the proposal, and recalled MacArthur saying that such an organization would 'stretch over the whole country like a rainbow'. The 42nd Infantry Division subsequently started to be known as the 'Rainbow Division', created using units from 26 states (including Alabama) and the District of Columbia. The nickname stuck, and MacArthur was promoted to colonel as the division chief of staff. The 42nd Division was activated in August 1917, four months after the American entry into WWI. In that same month, 3,677 Alabama National Guardsmen departed from Montgomery's Union Station for shipment to France as the 167th U.S. Infantry Regiment of the Rainbow Division. The 42nd went overseas to the Western Front of Belgium and France in November 1917, one of the first divisions of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) to do so. The AEF was commanded by General John Joseph Pershing. Upon arrival there, the 42nd Division began intensive training with the British and French armies in learning the basics of trench warfare which had, for the past three years, dominated strategy on the Western Front, with neither side advancing much further than they had in 1914. The following year, the division took part in four major operations: the Champagne-Marne, the Aisne-Marne, the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In total, it saw 264 days of combat. While in France, the division was placed under French control for a time, commanded by various French commanders, including Henri Gouraud and Georges de Bazelaire, of the French VII Army Corps. Soldiers of the 167th Infantry Regiment (as part of the 42nd Division) manned positions near St. Benoit, on the Meuse River, during the St. Mihiel offensive, September 1918. Casualties: total 14,683 (KIA – 2,058; WIA – 12,625). Commanders: Maj. Gen. W. A. Mann (5 September 1917), Brig. Gen. Charles T. Menoher (19 December 1917), Maj. Gen. Charles D. Rhodes, (7 November 1918), Brig. Gen. Douglas MacArthur (10 November 1918), Maj. Gen. C. A. F. Flagler (22 November 1918), Maj. Gen. George Windle Read (10 April 1919 to division's deactivation on 9 May 1919). The 42nd Division was inactivated after World War I. Source: Wikipedia

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