3.8 by 4.3 inches
Mort Cohen collection
The first companies of the Regiment entered combat on the twenty-third of October, 1944. They relieved elements of the 315th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Division east of Luneville, France, in the vicinity of Embermenil. The Regiment occupied dug-in positions in Le Remabois and in the eastern part of the Foret de Parroy. In the last week of October and the first weeks of November, with a series of night attacks, the First Battalion drove the Germans from their remaining strongholds in the forest. By continued and active patrolling, the Germans were kept from any effective offensive action in this part of the line.
One of the more daring patrols of this time was made on 31 October by four men from Company E: S/Sgt. R. B. Lawrence and Harold L. Hunt and Pfc. Collie R. Martin and John F. Larkin. These men volunteered to investigate a patch of woods that was suspected of concealing a mortar position. The patrol moved into the woods and, upon discovering more of the enemy than had been anticipated, withdrew and directed an artillery concentration on the area.
