American Expeditionary Forces, Infantry, 78th Division

Seventy-Eighth Division - National Army

 * Nickname: Lighting Division
 * Order of Battle of the United States Land Forces in the World War. American Expeditionary Forces. Division. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1931 First Image 315

The volume will include the following for each Regular Army (RA), National Guard (NG) and National Army (NA) or Draft division:
 * Division Commanders
 * Division Composition: Infantry and Field Artillery Brigades, Divisional Trains; Trains: Ammunition, Supply, Engineer, Sanitary (Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals); Attached: short term unit attachments; Detached: units detached from the division
 * Division Chronology- Assignment: Army, Corps, Date; Division Headquarters: Location, Date
 * Record of Events: Organization and Movement Overseas; Completion of Organization in France; Record of Events: Training and Operations; Record of Events: Return to the United States and Demobilization


 * Native Americans Serving with the Seventy-Eighth Division. NARA NAID 34394325

Troops Drawn
Selective Service (Draft) New York, New Jersey and Delaware

Training Camp in the United States

 * Camp Dix.

Overseas Service

 * Date landed in France: May 18.,1918-June 12, 1918.
 * Date sailed for home: May 24.1919.

Major Operations

 * Battle Participation of Organizations of the American Expeditionary Forces pp. 30-
 * Summaries of Operations - 78th Division
 * 78th Division - Maps

Military Units attached to the Seventy-Eighth Division
154th Infantry Brigade 156th Infantry Brigade 153rd Field Artillery Brigade Divisional Troops  Trains 
 * 309th Infantry
 * 310th Infantry
 * 308th Machine Gun Battalion
 * 311th Infantry
 * 312th Infantry
 * 309th Machine Gun Battalion
 * 307th  Field Artillery
 * 308th Field Artillery
 * 309th Field Artillery
 * 303rd Trench Mortar Battery
 * 307th  Machine Gun Battalion
 * 303rd Engineers
 * 303rd Field Signal Battalion
 * HQ Troop
 * 303rd  Train HQ and Military Police
 * 303rd  Ammunition Train
 * 303rd Supply Train
 * 303rd  Engineer Train
 * 303rd Sanitary Train (Ambulance Companies and Field Hospitals309-312

Unit Histories

 * Thomas F. Meehan. History of the Seventy-Eighth Division in the World War,1917-1919.New York:Dodd,Mead and Company, 1921.
 * History of the 307th Field Artillery September 6, 1917-May 16, 1919.
 * Joseph P. Roth and Robert L. Wheeler, comps. History Company E 303 Engineers of the 78th Division,1917-1919. New York: John P. Smith Print, 1919

Soldier Naturalizations

 * John J Newman. American naturalization processes and procedures, 1790-1985. pp. 15-16 will discuss naturalization of soldiers
 * Marian L. Smith. ‘’ ‘New Means and New Machinery:’ the problem of World War I soldier naturalization research.’’ NGS News Magazine (April/May/June,2005): 23-28

The following naturalizations occurred in the in the state which provided soldiers to this division. Some of the naturalizations may have taken place at the training camp and others elsewhere. Soldiers in these collections may have also served in other divisions.


 * Burlington County, Fort Dix military base, naturalization records, 1914-1946
 * United States, World War I Correspondence Relating to Foreign Born Soldiers, 1917-1921

Related FamilySearch Historical Record Collections

 * United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
 * United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940
 * United States, World War I American Expeditionary Forces Deaths, 1917-1919
 * United States, Enlisted and Officer Muster Rolls and Rosters, 1916-1939
 * Delaware, World War I Servicemen Records, 1917-1919

Related FamilySearch Wiki Articles

 * Beginning United States World War I Research
 * United States World War I Infantry Divisions
 * World War I American Expeditionary Forces Table of Organization, 1917-1919
 * World War I United States Military Records, 1917 to 1918

Related Websites

 * The National WWI Museum and Memorial Kansas City, MO.
 * United States World War One Centennial Commission

Reference Sources

 * American Expeditionary Forces Distinctive Cloth Insignia Chart
 * U.S. Army Center of Military History Campaigns: World War I
 * U.S.Army Center of Military History World War I Divisions: Then and Now