Mouwembleem 7e Infanterie Divison (Sleevebadge 7th Infantry Division) green back

On 1 July 1940, the 7th Division was reactivated at Camp Ord, California, under the command of Major General Joseph W. Stilwell. The 12th and 13th Brigades did not reactivate as part of an army-wide elimination of brigade commands within its divisions. The division was instead centered around three infantry regiments; the 17th Infantry Regiment, the 32nd Infantry Regiment, and the 53rd Infantry Regiment. Also assigned to the division were the 31st, 48th, 49th and 57th Field Artillery Battalions, as well as the 7th Signal Company, the 707th Ordnance Company, the 7th Quartermaster Company, the 7th Reconnaissance Troop, the 13th Engineer Battalion, the 7th Medical Battalion, and the 7th Counter Intelligence Detachment. Most of the troops in the division were selective service soldiers, conscripted as a part of the US Army's first peacetime military draft. The 7th Division was assigned to III Corps of the Fourth United States Army, and transferred to Longview, Washington, in August 1941 to participate in tactical maneuvers. Following this training, the division moved back to Fort Ord, California, where it was located when the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor caused the United States to declare war. The formation proceeded almost immediately to San Jose, California, arriving 11 December 1941 to help protect the west coast and allay civilian fears of invasion. The 53rd Infantry Regiment was removed from the 7th Division and replaced with the 159th Infantry Regiment, newly deployed from the California Army National Guard. For the early parts of the war, the division participated mainly in construction and training roles. Subordinate units also practiced boat loading at the Monterey Wharf and amphibious assault techniques at the Salinas River in California. On 9 April 1942, the division was formally redesignated as the 7th Motorized Division. and transferred to Camp San Luis Obispo on 24 April 1942. Three months later, divisional training commenced in the Mojave Desert in preparation for its planned deployment to the African theater. It was again designated the 7th Infantry Division on 1 January 1943, when the motorized equipment was removed from the unit and it became a light infantry division once more, as the Army eliminated the motorized division concept fearing it would be logistically difficult and that the troops were no longer needed in North Africa. The 7th Infantry Division began rigorous amphibious assault training under US Marines from the Fleet Marine Force, before being deployed to fight in the Pacific theater instead of Africa. USMC General Holland Smith oversaw the unit's training