31st Infantry Regiment Battalions
Modern Era, United States, Infantry
This page collects the existing battalion illustrations and additional documented historical battalions of the 31st Infantry Regiment. The historical entries include inactive units and earlier designations; the regimental image identifies entries without a battalion-specific illustration.
1st Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
This entry now anchors the battalion page in the regiment's origin or defining early identity, giving the 1st Battalion slot a more specific historical frame than the first scaffold pass.
The 31st Infantry Regiment, the Polar Bears, was organized in 1916 for duty in the Philippines. From the beginning its history was tied to the Pacific and to the Army's forward-deployed role in Asia rather than to the older frontier tradition of many lower-numbered regiments.
2d Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
The 2d Battalion entry uses the regiment's middle or operational arc to give the page a clearer sense of how the parent unit developed over time.
In World War II the regiment fought in the defense of the Philippines and suffered the ordeal of Bataan and captivity after the fall of the islands. Its later twentieth-century history continued in the Pacific-oriented Army, including service in Korea and later through battalions that preserved the Polar Bear identity in Alaska and other assignments.
3d Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
The 3d Battalion entry now carries the regiment into its later or enduring modern identity, tightening the page around the way the lineage is remembered in the modern Army.
The 31st Infantry is therefore one of the clearest examples of a regiment shaped by the Pacific century: born for overseas service, blooded in the Philippines, and remembered for endurance in some of the hardest campaigns and captivity experiences of the modern U.S. Army.
4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
The 4th Battalion was activated for the 196th Infantry Brigade in 1965 and served in Vietnam.
It later supported the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and was reactivated with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum in 1996. Army Historical Foundation.
5th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
The 5th Battalion served at Fort Rucker during the Vietnam era.
It supported the Army Aviation School. Regimental history (Wikipedia).
6th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment
The 6th Battalion was activated at Fort Lewis in 1967 and served in Vietnam with the 9th Infantry Division.
It later served as an opposing force unit at the National Training Center, Fort Irwin, from 1980 until being reflagged in 1988. Regimental history (Wikipedia).
Research note: The added historical entries cite their sources individually. Regimental illustrations are labeled as such. An earlier battalion designation can continue through another battalion or a separate battery; these relationships are identified in the entries. The original three entries are retained; the additional entries do not treat regimental campaign credits as evidence that every battalion fought in those campaigns.
Division timeline, 1916–2026 · assignments, patches and deployments →