30th Infantry Division Awarded the Presidential Unit Citation For Actions Around Mortain

Edited to add that the 30th is the only division to ever receive the PUC. It has only been awarded previously to smaller elements; battalion, regiments, etc.

For those that may not know the story. This is recognition of the 30th Division as the finest in the ETO. The wording for the Citation forces them to choose a single action, and Mortain was chosen because every element of the Division was involved. Heavily involved.

The Marshall team chose the 30th as the finest Division in the ETO, but then Eisenhower never made the award. Eisenhower has been accused of not making the award because the 30th was National Guard rather than regular army. Groups have been lobbying for 75 years to make good on this.

The Marshall Letter:


16 March 1946
Dear General Hobbs:
Now that I am leaving the service, I thought it might be well to give you the following information for whatever satisfaction you might derive therefrom.
I was historian of the ETO. Toward the end of last fall, for the purpose of breaking the log-jam of paper concerning division presidential unit citations, General Eisenhower instructed me to draw up a rating sheet on the divisions. This entailed in the actual processing that we had to go over the total work of all the more experienced divisions, infantry and armor, and report back to him which divisions we considered had performed the most efficient and consistent battle services.
We so did, and we named certain infantry divisions in the first category and same with armor, and we placed others in a second category and yet others in a third. The 30th was among five divisions in the first category.
However, we picked the 30th Division No. 1 on the list of first category divisions. It was the combined judgment of the approximately 35 historical officers who had worked on the records and in the field that the 30th had merited this distinction. It was our finding that the 30th had been outstanding in three operations and that we could consistently recommend it for citation on any one of these three occasions. It was further found that it had in no single instance performed discreditably or weakly when considered against the averages of the Theater and that in no single operation had it carried less than its share of the burden or looked bad when compared with the forces on its flanks. We were especially impressed with the fact that it had consistently achieved results without undue wastage of its men.
I do not know whether further honors will come to the 30th. I hope they do. For we had to keep looking at the balance of things always and we felt that the 30th was the outstanding infantry division in the ETO.
Respectfully yours,
/s/S.L.A. Marshall
Colonel S.L.A. Marshall, GSC
Historian of ETO

 

Just came across this thread, I do not wish to take anything away from the 30th ID, they were an outstanding unit. However, what KodiacBeer wrote: "the 30th is the only division to ever receive the PUC. It has only been awarded previously to smaller elements; battalion, regiments, etc." is incorrect. The 101st as a division twice, Normandy and Bastogne, though the second award was (-) 2/401st GIR and (+) 501 PIR. The 3d ID for Colmar, 32d ID Kokoda/Buna Goa, 26th ID Ardennes-Alsace, 96th ID Okinawa, the French 2d AD for Strasbourg, 2d MarDiv for Tarawa, 1st MarDiv (3 separate times) Guadalcanal/Solomons-Peleliu-Okinawa, 4th MarDiv Saipan/Tinian/Iwo Jima, 6th MarDiv Okinawa, for WWII.
As far as "ever" it has been awarded to Divisions in Korea, the 1st Marine Division, again 3 times, Inchon, Chosin Reservoir and one for periods in 1951, 2d Infantry Division for 1951. Vietnam, and the GWOT had additional divisional awards of the PUC.

Because the link to the Whitehouse no longer works in the original post, I thought I'd post the information again.

From Army Times, Mar 18,2020
Old Hickory Division to receive presidential unit citation

President Donald Trump has directed the Army to award the Presidential Unit Citation to the 30th Infantry Division, the White House said in a statement Tuesday evening.

Eight units within the 30th were already recognized for their actions in the European theater of World War II after the war. However, the president has directed the Army to honor the remainder of the division for their actions during the battle of Mortain, France.


“This action rightfully recognizes our Veterans who triumphed against incredible odds, as well as those who died during a critical battle that helped ensure the Allied victory in Europe,” the president said in his statement.

“Nicknamed the ‘Old Hickory Division’ because its soldiers hailed from National Guard units from North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia – all states closely associated with President Andrew Jackson – the 30th Division Soldiers proved as tough as their unit’s namesake,” the statement reads.

Soldiers from the 30th took up defensive positions around the small town of Mortain after relieving the 1st Infantry Division on Aug. 6, 1944.

Following the Normandy invasion two months earlier, the German High Command was preparing for a massive counter-offensive to “throw the Allied Armies back into the sea,” according to a National Guard history of the battle. Adolf Hitler ordered the movement of large amounts of infantry and armor into the area near Mortain, located roughly 150 miles from Paris.

Old Hickory soldiers awoke in their foxholes to an attack by an entire German Panzer Corps meant to break their lines.

“They found themselves confronted by overwhelming enemy armor, and the German Panzers broke through their lines,” the president’s statement reads. "The Old Hickory Division, however, did not stop fighting. It pressed its cooks, clerks, and drivers into service as riflemen."

The 30th’s artillery began a barrage of fire meant to beat back the German forces encircling American troops. The cannons were joined at daybreak by U.S. and U.K. close air support, which devastated German tanks and mechanized columns attempting to reach the French coast.

By the afternoon of Aug. 7, the German attack had stalled in its tracks, and the 30th’s soldiers began a counterattack to relieve its trapped elements. Five more days of intense fighting followed.

“More than 2,000 Old Hickory Soldiers were killed or wounded during the weeklong battle, but their efforts and sacrifice would have a profound impact on the course of history,” the president’s statement concluded.

Today, the 30th is still around in the form of the North Carolina National Guard’s 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team, which retains the same unit patch as the old division.

The 30th ABCT most recently deployed to Kuwait in November. Bradley fighting vehicles from the unit were temporarily sent into Syria to guard oil fields from a potential Islamic State resurgence last fall.

A good article with pictures: WWII 30th Infantry Division “Old Hickory” Awarded The Presidential Unit Citation | JoCo Report

One of my favorite quotes from it; “We are extremely happy for 30th Infantry Division veterans and their families,” said Maj. Gen. Todd Hunt, adjutant general of the NC National Guard. “We are honored to carry on the lineage and colors of “Old Hickory” in our 30th Armored Brigade Combat Team that is currently deployed to the Middle East. This recognition is long overdue for the men who were called “Roosevelt’s SS” by German soldiers. They were the real deal, feared by the enemy, tough as nails and sacrificed so much from Normandy to the Elbe River.”

I'm glad some of the veterans got justice for their accomplishments, just wish it had happened while more were still with us.