The 34th Infantry Regiment (special designation "Leyte Dragons") is a Regular Army infantry regiment of the United States Army. It saw combat in World War I, in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II, and was the first full American regiment deployed in combat in the Korean War. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 34th are now basic training formations attached to the 165th Infantry Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
Other units called "34th Infantry Regiment" There was a 34th Infantry Regiment in the War of 1812, constituted on 29 January 1813 by enrolling several militia companies from Maine (then Massachusetts) into regular service. This regiment served under General George Izard on the Lake Champlain frontier. In October 1815 it was consolidated into the Regiment of Light Artillery.
At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Congress increased the Regular Army by authorizing the creation of nine new, three-battalion infantry regiments. After the war, the battalions of those regiments were reorganized as separate regiments. The 3rd Battalion, 16th Infantry became the 34th Infantry Regiment on 21 September 1866. In 1869 Congress reduced the peacetime army from 41 infantry regiments to 25. The 34th and 11th Regiments were consolidated on 6 April to form the current 16th Infantry Regiment.
Origins; World War I; interwar period
The current 34th Infantry Regiment was organized at El Paso, Texas on 15 July 1916, four months into the Punitive Expedition into Mexico led by Major General John J. Pershing. The 34th's original cadre was drawn from the 7th, 20th and 23rd regiments. The regiment was assigned to border patrol and National Guard training duties.
With the American entry into World War I in April 1917 the Army expanded and shifted to preparation for war in Europe. The 34th was assigned to the 7th Division, which arrived in France on 27 August 1918. On 9 October the division went into line in Lorraine with the 34th on its left. It saw action in the Puvenelle sector before the armistice on 11 November. With the rest of the division, the 34th then took up occupation duty in Germany during negotiations of the Treaty of Versailles. The regiment returned to the United States in June 1919.
The 34th Infantry Regiment was transferred on 25 June 1919 to Camp Funston, Kansas, and to Camp George G. Meade, Maryland on 16 January 1921. On 16 October 1921, the regimental headquarters relocated to Madison Barracks, New York; the 1st Battalion was posted to Fort Wadsworth, New York, the 2nd Battalion at Fort Ontario, New York, and the 3rd Battalion to Fort Howard, Maryland. The entire regiment was transferred on 7 September 1922 to Camp Eustis, Virginia. The 3rd Battalion was inactivated on 27 September 1922. The 34th Infantry's intended wartime mission was to conduct a mobile defense of possible amphibious landing areas in support of the Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay.
The regiment was relieved from the 7th Division on 24 March 1923 and assigned to the 8th Division. The 3rd Battalion was organized on 30 March 1926 with Organized Reserve personnel as a "Regular Army Inactive" unit, with headquarters at Fort Eustis. The regiment was relieved from the 8th Division on 15 August 1927 and assigned to the 4th Division. It was partially mechanized in July 1928 and concurrently attached to the Experimental Mechanized Force at Camp Meade; the unit became first fully-motorized infantry regiment in the Army on 1 September 1929. It participated in the sesquicentennial celebration of the Battle of Yorktown, 5–27 October 1931. The regiment was transferred 4 November 1931 to Fort Meade.
On 28 July 1932, regular forces were assembled in Washington, D.C. under the direct command of the Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, to break up the Bonus Army, a protest group largely made up of unemployed World War I veterans seeking pensions from the Herbert Hoover administration. A battalion of the 34th was in reserve while the main action was conducted by the 3rd Cavalry and 12th Infantry.