126th Infantry Regiment (United States)

Also known as: Second Michigan — the regiment's standing nickname · The Ghost Battalion — the 2nd Battalion's Kapa Kapa march name, often extended to the regiment · Grand Rapids Light Guard / Grand Rapids Artillery — the 1855 founding companies of the lineage · 126th Infantry — the shorthand styling of the official histories

Toyota's Mr. Clutch, the trailhead municipality, the National Artist of Filipino architecture, and the flanking regiment

Definition

The 126th Infantry Regiment — the Michigan National Guard regiment nicknamed the “Second Michigan” with the motto Courage Sans Peur — is the infantry regiment of the 32nd Infantry Division whose lineage runs from the Grand Rapids volunteer companies of 1855 through both world wars to today’s Guard, and whose fighting record spans the American Army’s first ground offensive against Japan at Buna–Gona to the closure of the Villa Verde Trail in the liberation of the Philippines. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment) The regiment traces its descent to the Grand Rapids Light Guard and Grand Rapids Artillery, organized July 12, 1855, whose successors helped form the 3rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry of the Civil War; redesignated the 126th Infantry for the 32nd Division in World War I, it reached France in February 1918, fought the division’s four campaigns, and earned the French Croix de Guerre. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

In World War II the regiment carried the hardest share of the division’s hardest campaigns: the Kapa Kapa march across the Owen Stanley Range by its 2nd Battalion — the “Ghost Battalion” of one of the most grueling marches in American military history — and the Buna–Gona fighting in which the regiment was the division’s hardest hit; it led the Saidor landing of January 2, 1944, and followed the division up the ladder — Aitape, Morotai, Leyte — to Luzon. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division) On the Villa Verde Trail it was the flanking regiment: after probing the Ambayabang and neighboring valleys west of the trail, it marched the Miliwit Valley in April 1945 to take the hills that isolated Salacsac Pass No. 1 — and on 24 May 1945, attached to the 25th Infantry Division, it was trucked to Balete Pass for the final drive, clearing the trail from Santa Fe to Imugan and making the 29 May contact with the Buena Vista guerrillas that closed the campaign. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	126th Infantry Regiment (United States) (verified this session)
Wikidata	126th Infantry Regiment (Q139895225) — label “126th Infantry Regiment,” description “military unit,” instance of military unit, sitelinked to the United States article; a thin record carrying no country or lineage claims (verified this session) (Wikidata — Q139895225)
DBpedia	N/A — dbpedia.org data endpoint intermittently unreachable this session (ETIMEDOUT on the regiment’s resource)
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	regiment — noun, military sense: “A unit of armed troops under the command of an officer, and consisting of several smaller units” (headword verified this session) (Wiktionary — regiment)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	N/A — id.loc.gov unreachable this session (HTTP 403)
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	126th Infantry Regiment Second Michigan Michigan National Guard Grand Rapids Light Guard 3rd Michigan Civil War 32nd Division Red Arrow World War I Croix de Guerre Guyton Kapa Kapa Ghost Battalion Buna Gona Saidor Aitape Morotai Leyte Villa Verde Trail Miliwit Valley Salacsac Imugan Balete Pass Villegas
ConceptNet	N/A
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

Second Michigan — the regiment’s standing nickname
The Ghost Battalion — the 2nd Battalion’s Kapa Kapa march name, often extended to the regiment
Grand Rapids Light Guard / Grand Rapids Artillery — the 1855 founding companies of the lineage
126th Infantry — the shorthand styling of the official histories

Examples and Analogies

A regiment older than its division: the lineage predates the 32nd Division by sixty-two years — Grand Rapids militia of 1855, Civil War service in the 3rd Michigan, border duty in 1916 — so the division of 1917 was built around regiments that already had a past. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)
The ghost march: while the division went to Buna by air and sea, the 2nd Battalion crossed the Owen Stanleys on foot over the Kapa Kapa trail — the march that earned the “Ghost Battalion” its name and prefaced the ordeal at Buna, where of 131 officers and 3,040 enlisted entering combat, only 32 officers and 579 enlisted were left. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)
The flanking regiment of the trail: the Villa Verde fight was frontal by nature — the 127th and 128th attacked the Salacsac positions head-on — but the 126th’s Miliwit Valley march took Hills 518, 519, 511, and 512 and then Hills 515, 516, and 525 behind the passes, cutting the Japanese line of communications: the envelopment inside the attrition. (CMH — The Bambang Front I)
Verified record data:
Lineage: organized July 12, 1855, as the Grand Rapids Light Guard and Grand Rapids Artillery; Civil War service via the 3rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry (1861–64), which earned Medals of Honor for Pvt. Benjamin Morse and Cpl. Walter Mundell; redesignated Michigan National Guard, December 31, 1894 (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)
Earlier service: mobilized 1898 as the 32nd Volunteer Infantry; Mexican border duty, June 1916 (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)
World War I: under Col. Joseph Westnedge in the 32nd Division; left the United States February 19, 1918; four campaigns; Croix de Guerre; PFC Joseph William Guyton the first American killed on German-held territory (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)
World War II: inducted October 15, 1940; Camp Cable, Australia 1942; Kapa Kapa march and Buna–Gona 1942–43; Saidor landing January 2, 1944 — the U.S. Army’s last use of carrier pigeons; Aitape, Morotai, and Leyte with the division; Luzon January 1945 (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division)
Villa Verde Trail (1945): valley probes from February 25, Ambayabang cleared to Lawican by March 5; Miliwit Valley drive from April 5; Hills 515–516–525 and the trail block by April 28; relieved from May 3, out of the line May 9–24; trucked to Balete Pass May 24; trail cleared Santa Fe–Imugan by May 29; patrolled on to mid-June (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)
Casualties on the trail: 195 killed and 460 wounded through 24 May, plus 10 killed and 30 wounded in the final week under 25th Division control (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)
Medals of Honor: World War II awards to PFC William A. McWhorter, SGT Leroy Johnson, and PFC Dirk J. Vlug; on the trail, Staff Sgt. Ysmael R. Villegas of Company F, mortally wounded March 20 leading his squad against Japanese foxholes (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, CMH — The Bambang Front I)
After the war: Michigan Guard status; a single battalion after 1968; armor 1999, cavalry 2006; Iraq 2005–06 and 2008, Afghanistan 2012; infantry again 2016, into the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team January 2017 (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

Usage Scenarios

1. Working the Villa Verde Trail Order of Battle

The regiment fixes the northern half of the trail’s Allied order of battle this wiki’s Villa Verde Trail and 32nd Division entries carry: the 127th opened the drive, the 128th fought the frontal battles at the Salacsac passes, and the 126th — after the flank probes of February and March — delivered the envelopment that isolated Salacsac Pass No. 1 before its final week under the 25th Division. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, Wikipedia — Battle of Villa Verde Trail)

2. Tracing National Guard Lineage

The regiment is the Guard’s long-lineage case: 1855 militia companies to Civil War infantry to the 32nd Division of both wars, then survival through the postwar redesignations — armor, cavalry, and back to infantry — into the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division)

3. Studying the Papua Campaign

Buna–Gona is the regiment’s costliest record — the Kapa Kapa march and the coconut-log bunker fighting that reduced the regiment to a remnant, the campaign that opened the U.S. Army’s ground war against Japan. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

4. Philippine Liberation Commemoration

The Filipino commemorative calendar touches the regiment twice: Sergeant Villegas, the Filipino American Medal of Honor recipient killed on the trail, and the final-week clearing of the Santa Fe–Imugan trail with the Buena Vista guerrilla contact that closed the campaign on 31 May 1945. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)

Strategies

Probe before committing: the division’s plan sent the 126th up the Ambayabang, Agno, and Arboredo valleys first — the flank reconnaissance that shaped the main drive before the regiment was recalled to it. (CMH — The Bambang Front I)
Flank when the front will not break: with the 127th and 128th pinned at the passes, the Miliwit Valley march turned the Salacsac defenses from the north — Hills 518 and 519 taken against surprisingly light opposition, then the grind to Hill 515’s crest and the April 28 block that cut the Japanese supply line. (CMH — The Bambang Front I)
Relieve in sequence, then lend the rested: the division rotated its regiments to survive the trail’s attrition, and when the 25th Division’s breakthrough opened the endgame, the corps lent the 126th — then out of the line — to the attack that could use it. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)
Clear the corridor, then police it: strike toward Imugan against scattered resistance, control the trail from Santa Fe to Imugan by 29 May, then patrol west and up the Imugan River valley for two more weeks — security as the campaign’s last phase. (CMH — The Bambang Front II)
Keep the heritage through the redesignations: armor, cavalry, and infantry again — the lineage carried by the Guard’s willingness to change the regiment’s branch while keeping its identity and battle honors. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

Security and Safety Measures

Attrition as the regiment’s ledger: Buna’s arithmetic — 131 officers and 3,040 enlisted entering combat, 32 officers and 579 enlisted left — and the trail’s 655 battle casualties plus the final week’s 40 more, against the division’s roughly 6,000 nonbattle evacuations on Luzon: sickness and fatigue, not bullets, took the largest share. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, CMH — The Bambang Front I)
The morale problem of the long-served: by mid-April 1945 the official history recorded the regiment’s men approaching complete mental and physical exhaustion — the human limit the relief rotations and the final attachment were designed to manage. (CMH — The Bambang Front I)
Casualty accounting under two headquarters: the regiment’s trail totals exclude its final week under 25th Division control — 10 killed and 30 wounded counted separately — so any casualty figure must name the span and the headquarters it served. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II)
For researchers: keep the passes and the regiments straight — Salacsac Pass was the 32nd Division’s fight on the trail, Balete Pass the 25th’s on Route 5, and only the attached 126th fought on both maps — and note that the thin linked-data record (Q139895225) carries no lineage claims to check the standard account against. (CMH — The Bambang Front II, Wikidata — Q139895225)

Historical Context

The regiment’s past predates its number. The Grand Rapids companies of 1855 supplied the 3rd Michigan of the Civil War — two of its soldiers earning Medals of Honor — and their descendants served on the Mexican border in 1916 before the 32nd Division’s organization made them the 126th Infantry for France. The first war took them across in February 1918, through the war’s last campaigns; the Croix de Guerre and Guyton’s death on German-held ground closed the record. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division)

The second war made the regiment’s name in the Pacific. Inducted in October 1940, it reached Australia in 1942 — Camp Cable named for the first 32nd Division man killed by the Japanese — and its 2nd Battalion crossed the Owen Stanleys by the Kapa Kapa trail to Buna, where the regiment was ground down to a remnant and rebuilt in Australia under William H. Gill. It led the Saidor landing in January 1944 — carrier pigeons carrying the Army’s last message of their kind — and followed the division through Aitape, Morotai, and Leyte to Luzon. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division)

Luzon wrote the Philippine chapter. From February 1945 the regiment probed the valleys west of the Villa Verde Trail, then joined the trail itself: the Miliwit Valley flank of April, the hills that isolated Salacsac Pass No. 1, Sergeant Villegas’s Medal of Honor action of March 20, and relief by the 128th in early May. On 23–24 May, I Corps attached the regiment to the 25th Division and trucked it to Balete Pass; striking toward Imugan against light resistance, it cleared the trail from Santa Fe to Imugan by 29 May — the day its elements met the Buena Vista guerrilla battalion northeast of Imugan — and the campaign was declared closed on 31 May, the regiment patrolling on for two more weeks. Its postwar life ran through the Michigan Guard’s redesignations to the 32nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the present. (CMH — The Bambang Front I, CMH — The Bambang Front II, Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

Challenges and Controversies

Which Pass, Which Regiment

Casual summaries hand the regiment “Balete Pass”; the record keeps the fronts distinct — Salacsac Pass on the trail was the 32nd Division’s battle, Balete Pass on Route 5 the 25th’s, and the 126th reached Balete only as an attached regiment for the final week — the distinction this wiki’s 32nd Division and Villa Verde Trail entries police. (CMH — The Bambang Front II, Wikipedia — Battle of Villa Verde Trail)

The Lineage Date

The regiment’s origin is the 1855 Grand Rapids companies, not the 1862 foundation sometimes carried in regimental lore — the Civil War service running through the 3rd Michigan Volunteer Infantry of 1861–64 into which those companies were organized. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment)

The Buna Cost

The regiment’s Buna–Gona losses — reduced from 131 officers and 3,040 enlisted to 32 officers and 579 enlisted — stand in the record as both the measure of the Army’s first Pacific offensive and the indictment of its preparation, the campaign that cost the division its first two commanders before Gill’s rebuild. (Wikipedia — 126th Infantry Regiment, Wikipedia — 32nd Infantry Division)

A Thin Linked-Data Record

The regiment’s Wikidata item carries only a label and “military unit” — no country, dates, or lineage — so linked-data citations verify the name and nothing else; the substance rests on the standard account and the official history. (Wikidata — Q139895225)