26th Infantry Regiment
Division not established
The cited lineage’s first division assignment begins in June 1917. The preceding period remains unverified here.
First recorded division1st Expeditionary Division8 June 1917 · Later the 1st Infantry Division
Current · 1st Battalion101st Airborne Division2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team · Fort Campbell
Research cutoff8 September 2026Current unit directory checked on this date
One regiment, separate assignments
The regiment held the division assignment until 15 February 1957. After conversion to a parent regiment under the Combat Arms Regimental System, its battle groups and battalions held their own assignments. The rows below separate those histories. A deployment or temporary attachment does not, by itself, change the assigned division.
Earlier regimental battalions are covered by the common regimental row. Post-1957 rows follow the CMH lineages of the 1st and 2d Battalions, derived from Companies A and B; they are not a claim that the old battalion organizations continued unchanged.
Division patches
Patches identify the divisions represented in the timeline. Artwork is representative; the exact pattern was not necessarily worn throughout every period.
At a glance
Assignments across time
Bar widths follow elapsed time.
Scroll horizontally on a small screen. Select a segment to open its dated entry. Diamond markers open deployments; their positions indicate the labeled year, not an exact start date or duration. Short assignments are easier to inspect in the list below.
- 1st Infantry
- 8th Infantry
- 2d Infantry
- 101st Airborne
- Training · no division
- Inactive
- Unverified / last reported
Explore a date
Who were they with?
Look up dated regimental, 1st and 2d Battalion assignments. The 3d and 4th Battalion notes have incomplete dates and are excluded from this lookup.
The dated record
Division timeline
Deployments and overseas operations appear inside their division-assignment cards. Dates retain the precision of each source; some entries document only part of a tour or a company-sized element. This is a sourced selection, not a complete movement log. The date lookup above continues to show division assignments.
Each dated assignment ends when the next begins. “Present” means the research cutoff above. Inactive periods and uncertain dates remain visible.
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1916 – 8 Jun 1917
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8 Jun 1917 – 15 Feb 1957
26th Infantry Regiment
1st Infantry Division
Initially the 1st Expeditionary Division; later the 1st Division and 1st Infantry Division. One continuous assignment across the world wars.
Deployments & overseas operations
1917-1919
France and occupation duty
Regiment (wartime battalions) · World War I
Served in France with the 1st Division, followed by occupation duty in Germany. Years summarize overseas service.
Regimental history (secondary)1942-1945
North Africa, Sicily and Northwest Europe
Regiment (wartime battalions) · World War II
Served in North Africa, Sicily, France, Belgium and Germany with the 1st Infantry Division. Postwar occupation duty followed.
Regimental history (secondary)
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15 Feb 1957 – 14 Apr 1959
1st Battle Group
1st Infantry Division
Company A’s lineage becomes the 1st Battle Group; the parent regiment leaves the divisional structure.
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15 Feb 1957 – 1 Feb 1963
2d Battle Group lineage
Inactive
Company B’s lineage becomes the inactive 2d Battle Group headquarters.
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14 Apr 1959 – 24 Oct 1962
1st Battle Group
8th Infantry Division
Reassigned from the 1st Infantry Division.
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24 Oct 1962 – 15 Feb 1963
1st Battle Group
2d Infantry Division
A brief assignment before returning to the Big Red One.
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1 Feb 1963 – 13 Jan 1964
2d Battle Group
1st Infantry Division
Activated at Fort Riley. Its assignment overlaps the 1st Battle Group’s brief service with the 2d Division.
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15 Feb 1963 – 24 Feb 1983
1st Battle Group → 1st Battalion
1st Infantry Division
Redesignated as the 1st Battalion on 13 January 1964; division unchanged.
Deployments & overseas operations
1965-1970
South Vietnam
1st Battalion · Vietnam War
Combat service with the 1st Infantry Division; the battalion subsequently returned to Germany.
Regimental history (secondary)
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13 Jan 1964 – 3 Apr 1987
2d Battle Group lineage
Inactive
Inactivated and released from the 1st Infantry Division.
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24 Feb 1983 – 3 Apr 1987
1st Battalion
Inactive
Inactivated in Germany and released from divisional assignment.
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3 Apr 1987 – 15 Jan 1996
1st Battalion headquarters
TRADOC · No division
Activated for training at Fort Dix; later inactivated at Fort Jackson.
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3 Apr 1987 – 18 Jul 1990
2d Battalion headquarters
TRADOC · No division
Redesignated and activated at Fort Dix for training.
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18 Jul 1990 – 16 Apr 2007
2d Battalion
Inactive
Inactivated at Fort Dix; no division assignment in this interval.
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15 Jan – 16 Feb 1996
1st Battalion
Inactive
Between training service and divisional reactivation.
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16 Feb 1996 – 16 Mar 2008
1st Battalion
1st Infantry Division
Reactivated in Germany.
Deployments & overseas operations
Feb-Sep 1996; Oct 1996-Apr 1997
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Company D, then 1st Battalion · Balkan peacekeeping
Company D deployed first; the battalion followed in October. The two tours are distinguished here.
Regimental history (secondary)Mar-Sep 1998
Macedonia (now North Macedonia)
1st Battalion · Balkan peacekeeping
A separate Balkan deployment before the Kosovo mission.
Regimental history (secondary)1999
Kosovo
Task Force 1-26 Infantry · Operation Joint Guardian
Served with Task Force Falcon during the initial Kosovo peacekeeping deployment. The CMH account identifies the battalion in the June task organization. This year marker does not specify its full tour dates.
CMH: Operation Joint Guardian (PDF)2004-2005
Iraq
1st Battalion · Operation Iraqi Freedom
Deployed with the 1st Infantry Division; operated in Samarra.
26th Infantry Regiment Association2006-2007
Iraq
1st Battalion and attached elements · Operation Iraqi Freedom
Returned to Iraq, including operations in Baghdad. Companies could serve under different task forces.
26th Infantry Regiment Association
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16 Apr 2007 – March 2008
2d Battalion · 3d Brigade Combat Team
1st Infantry Division
Activated at Fort Hood. The following inactivation is documented to the month, not an exact day.
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March 2008 · exact day unverified
2d Battalion
Inactivation transition
Inactivated during March; personnel reflagged as 1st Battalion. This entire month is marked uncertain in the date lookup.
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16 Mar 2008 – 15 Jul 2014
1st Battalion · 3d Brigade Combat Team
1st Infantry Division
Formal assignment shifts to the brigade combat team; division affiliation remains the same.
Deployments & overseas operations
Jul 2008-Jul 2009
Kunar Province, Afghanistan
1st Battalion · Operation Enduring Freedom
Served from dispersed outposts in eastern Afghanistan, then returned to Fort Hood.
Regimental history (secondary)Deployment began Dec 2010; operations in 2011
Khost Province, Afghanistan
1st Battalion · Operation Enduring Freedom
The former battalion commander describes the December departure and movement to remote combat outposts in January 2011. The marker records the departure year; no return date is inferred.
LTC Jesse Pearson: deployment account2013-2014
Afghanistan
1st Battalion · Operation Enduring Freedom
An Army biography records the battalion deployment under LTC Daniel Jacobs. Company C also has a separate July 2013-February 2014 Afghanistan unit-award period in its CMH lineage; award dates are not assumed to define the entire battalion tour.
U.S. Army Benelux newsletter, 7 July 2017 (PDF)
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After March 2008 – present review
2d Battalion
Last reported inactive
The 2011 history reports the 2008 inactivation. No later reactivation is established by the sources used here; this is not a current lineage certification.
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15 Jul 2014 – 16 Apr 2015
1st Battalion
Inactive
Inactivated at Fort Knox before reactivation at Fort Campbell.
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16 Apr 2015 – present
1st Battalion · 2d Brigade Combat Team
101st Airborne Division
Current brigade title: 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team, “Strike.” Fort Campbell, Kentucky; checked 8 September 2026.
Deployments & overseas operations
2016-2017 rotation; reported Aug 2016
Baghdad, Iraq
1st Battalion elements · Operation Inherent Resolve
Army reporting identifies Blue Spader advisers at Baghdad Operations Command. The brigade rotation ran from May 2016 to January 2017; this does not imply every battalion element deployed for that entire period.
U.S. Army: Blue Spaders advise and assist2019; documented 16 Sep
Yavoriv, Ukraine
Company D / 1st Battalion elements · Training mission - Rapid Trident
Army imagery documents Company D in the multinational exercise at Combat Training Center-Yavoriv. This is a training mission before the 2022 invasion, not a combat deployment.
DVIDS: Company D in UkraineDocumented 16 Jan 2023
Romania
1st Battalion elements · NATO reassurance and deterrence
Army reporting confirms the battalion in Romania supporting NATO allies. The source establishes presence during the rotation, not its complete departure and return dates.
DVIDS: Upgrading Raven TechnologyDocumented 10 Aug 2025
Novo Selo, Bulgaria
1st Battalion elements · Overseas training
Army imagery documents a live-fire exercise in Bulgaria. The date marks documented overseas activity; the full rotation dates are not established here.
DVIDS: live-fire exercise in Bulgaria
Additional battalion - partial record
3d Battalion, 26th Infantry
1st Infantry Division - World War IIThe battalion's journal documents service with the 1st Infantry Division, including preparations in England and operations in Normandy in April-June 1944. This is service within the wartime regiment, whose division assignment appears in the common regimental row.
Dates incomplete: the journal establishes this wartime service, not the battalion's complete activation history or its later division assignments. No continuous post-1957 span is inferred.
Additional battalion - partial record
4th Battalion, 26th Infantry
Fort Dix, New Jersey - division unverified
An Army-published biography of Colonel Walter Piatt records his command of Company A, 4th Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, at Fort Dix. This confirms another battalion beyond the three previously listed.
Dates incomplete: the biography does not give the battalion's activation, inactivation, or division-assignment dates. This entry therefore has no proportional time bar or division patch.
Scope and source notes
- 1916–1917: the CMH lineage establishes the 8 June 1917 assignment. A preceding division assignment has not been established here; the opening interval is unverified, not asserted to be independent service.
- Other battalions: the 3d and 4th Battalions have separate service notes. Their complete assignment dates remain unverified, so they have no continuous bars and are excluded from the date lookup.
- Training service: TRADOC is a command, not a division. Headquarters activations for training are labeled accordingly.
- 2008: the CMH record gives 16 March for the 1st Battalion’s brigade assignment. The secondary account gives only March for the 2d Battalion’s inactivation; the chart marks that month as uncertain.
- 2015: use the official lineage’s effective date, 16 April, for the 101st assignment. An activation ceremony can occur on a different date.
- Current affiliation: the Fort Campbell directory lists 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry under the 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team. Historical entries retain the brigade title used in their source.
Sources
- CMH: 26th Infantry Regiment lineage (PDF)
- CMH: 1st Battalion lineage (25 April 2015) (PDF)
- CMH: 2d Battalion lineage (15 May 2007) (PDF)
- Fort Campbell: 2nd Mobile Brigade Combat Team directory
- GlobalSecurity: 2nd Battalion history · Secondary history, last modified in 2011; used for the March 2008 transition.
- Journal for the 3rd Battalion, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division: April-June 1944 - Compiled by John D. Stromer and Paul W. Lunnie; hosted by Historical Text Archive.
- U.S. Army Infantry magazine, April-August 2012 - Colonel Walter Piatt's biography, printed page 27 (PDF).
Deployment sources
Each deployment links directly to its source. Early service and some tour dates use a secondary regimental history; official Army histories, reporting, and the former battalion commander’s account provide additional evidence. No deployments are inferred for the later 2d, 3d, or 4th Battalion from the 1st Battalion’s service. Fort Campbell’s brigade history supplies the May 2016-January 2017 brigade rotation context.
Patch artwork
Local copies of artwork from Wikimedia Commons; original file pages provide authorship and public-domain notices.
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