The 7th Infantry Division was activated on 6 December 1917, exactly eight months after the American entry into World War I, as the 7th Division of the Regular Army at Camp Wheeler, Georgia. One month later, it prepared to deploy to Europe as a part of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). Most of the division sailed to Europe aboard the SS Leviathan.
While on the Western Front, the 7th Division did not see action at full divisional strength, though its infantry and reconnaissance elements did engage Germanforces.[5] On 11 October 1918, it first came under shell fire and later, at Saint-Mihiel, came under chemical attack. Elements of the 7th probed up toward Prény near the Moselle River, capturing positions and driving German forces out of the region. It was at this time that the division first received its shoulder sleeve insignia.
In early November, the 7th Division began preparing for an assault on the Hindenburg Line as part of the Second Army.The division launched a reconnaissance in force on the Voëvre plain, but the main assault was never conducted as hostilities ended on 11 November 1918 with the signing of the Armistice with Germany.