26th Infantry Regiment
Modern Era, United States, Infantry
The 26th Infantry Regiment, the Blue Spaders, was organized in 1901 during the Army's expansion for overseas service in the Philippines. Unlike many older regiments, it was born directly into America's new imperial and expeditionary phase rather than the frontier army of the nineteenth century.
In the twentieth century the regiment became closely associated with the 1st Infantry Division. It served with that division in World War I, World War II, and later in Vietnam through battalion-level service, giving it one of the clearest repeated divisional identities in the infantry branch.
That continuity made the 26th Infantry one of the best-known lineages of the modern Army. From the Philippines to France, Normandy, and Vietnam, the regiment linked early twentieth-century expansion to the major divisional wars of the century.
Battalion Page
A dedicated battalion subpage now collects the regiment's known battalion icons and short sketches for the 1st, 2d, and 3d Battalions. Open the 26th Infantry Regiment Battalions page.