40th Infantry Division (United States)

Also known as: 40th Infantry Division — the short standard styling · 40th Division — the campaign-history shorthand · Sunburst Division — the official special designation, from the shoulder patch's sun of twelve rays · Sunshine Division — the alternative styling the reference record notes · 6th Depot Division — the World War I designation under which its replacements fed eight divisions in France

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Definition

The 40th Infantry Division is a formation of the United States Army National Guard — the “Sunburst Division,” its official special designation, taken from the dark blue diamond shoulder patch bearing a golden sun of twelve rays — whose World War II record spans the liberation’s two ends: the Lingayen landing on Luzon in January 1945 and the final Sayre Highway phase on Mindanao that May. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division) Constituted on July 18, 1917 and organized at Camp Kearny, California, on September 16, 1917 from National Guard units of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah — and allotted between the wars to California, Utah, and Nevada — it was inducted into federal service on March 3, 1941, trained and garrisoned its way through Hawaii and New Britain, and reached combat at Lingayen Gulf on January 9, 1945, fighting at Fort Stotsenburg, Clark Field, and the Bambam Hills before its relief on March 2. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

The division’s Philippine war then dispersed by regiments — the pattern the liberation’s last phase demanded: its regiments landed on Panay (March 18, 1945) and at Pulupandan on Negros (March 29), while its 108th Infantry, detached as a regimental combat team, mopped up on Leyte and on May 10, 1945 landed unopposed at Macajalar Bay on Mindanao’s north coast, fought the “Purple Heart Canyon” delay of May 13–18, and met the 31st Division’s 155th Infantry near Impalutao on May 23 — the junction that cleared the Sayre Highway. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines) After accepting the Japanese surrender on Panay on September 2, 1945, the division moved to Korea for occupation duty, returned home on August 7, 1946, and was inactivated — its later history running through the 1950 Korean War mobilization and the California National Guard lineage that serves today from Los Alamitos. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division) Military-history register: active (National Guard).

Identities

Source Type	Identity
Wikipedia	40th Infantry Division (United States)
Wikidata	40th Infantry Division (Q4637475) — “active United States Army National Guard formation” (verified this session)
DBpedia	40th_Infantry_Division_(United_States) — resource verified this session (linked from Battle of Luzon, XIV Corps)
ProductOntology	N/A
Wiktionary	infantry — noun, “Soldiers who fight on foot (on land), as opposed to cavalry and other mounted units”; the branch of an army made up of such soldiers (the division’s arm; headword verified this session) (Wiktionary — infantry)
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH)	N/A — id.loc.gov suggest returns no heading for “40th Infantry Division” or “Fortieth Infantry Division” (searches verified this session)
MeSH	N/A
NCBI Taxonomy	N/A
AGROVOC	N/A
Google Scholar	40th Infantry Division United States Sunburst Division National Guard Camp Kearny California Lingayen Luzon 1945 Fort Stotsenburg Snake Hill Panay Pulupandan Negros 108th Infantry Macajalar Bay Mangima canyon Sayre Highway Impalutau Korea occupation 1950 Korean War Sandbag Castle Heartbreak Ridge
ConceptNet	N/A — ConceptNet API unreachable this session (HTTP 502)
OpenCyc	N/A

Also Known As

40th Infantry Division — the short standard styling
40th Division — the campaign-history shorthand
Sunburst Division — the official special designation, from the shoulder patch’s sun of twelve rays
Sunshine Division — the alternative styling the reference record notes
6th Depot Division — the World War I designation under which its replacements fed eight divisions in France

Examples and Analogies

A depot division’s first war: sent to France in August 1918, the 40th was redesignated the 6th Depot Division and “received, equipped, trained, and forwarded replacements” — over 27,000 of them to eight divisions — so the division that fought no battles in its first war became the school of the armies that did. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)
A garrison division’s second: its Pacific apprenticeship was defensive and then patrolling — Hawaii’s outer islands from September 1942, Oahu’s North Sector (relieving the 24th Division) from July 1943, Guadalcanal from December 1943, and New Britain from April 1944 — combat currency earned only at Lingayen in January 1945. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)
A division that fought as regiments: the 1945 record runs by regimental combat team — one on Panay, one toward Negros, the 108th to Leyte and then over the top of Mindanao at Macajalar Bay — the Eighth Army’s economy-of-force method applied to a single division, and the reason “was the 40th on Mindanao?” has a regimental answer. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Verified divisional data:
Origins and interwar: constituted July 18, 1917; organized Camp Kearny September 16, 1917 (originally the 19th Division); headquarters federally recognized June 18, 1926 at Berkeley, moved to Los Angeles October 1, 1937; inducted March 3, 1941 at Fort Lewis; triangular from February 18, 1942, the 108th Infantry joining from the 27th Division September 1, 1942 (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)
Luzon, January–March 1945: assault landing at Lingayen January 9 under XIV Corps; Fort Stotsenburg, Bambam Hills, Snake Hill, Storm King Mountain — the 108th RCT’s battles including Clark Field, Top of the World, Hill 7, and Sacobia Ridge; relieved March 2 (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)
Visayas and Mindanao, 1945: Panay March 18, resistance ended within ten days; Pulupandan, Negros, March 29, Talisay by April 2; return to Panay June–July; the 108th RCT from the Leyte mop-up (March 10, an estimated 19 killed and 49 wounded) to Macajalar Bay May 10, the Mangima canyon fight May 13–18 against roughly 1,250 Japanese, the Impalutau contact about 1400 on May 23 — roughly 15 killed and 100 wounded securing the highway, 45 killed and 148 wounded in northern Mindanao in all (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Surrender, occupation, cost: surrender accepted at Cabatuan Airfield, Panay, September 2, 1945 (Col. Raymond G. Stanton, 160th Infantry); Korea occupation September 1945, home August 7, 1946; World War II casualties 614 killed, 2,407 wounded of 3,025; Medal of Honor to John C. Sjogren; wartime commanders Story, Dawley, Brush, Myers (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

Usage Scenarios

1. Studying the Luzon Campaign

The division is the XIV Corps case of the January 9, 1945 Lingayen assault — landing under the Sixth Army and fighting the central plain’s prepared positions at Fort Stotsenburg and the Bambam Hills until relieved on March 2 — the Luzon record distinct from its later island work. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

2. Resolving the Mindanao Question

Researchers asking whether the 40th fought on Mindanao work from the regimental answer: the division as such fought on Luzon and in the Visayas, while its 108th RCT — listed by the U.S. Army’s official history as the “108th RCT, 40th Division” — landed at Macajalar Bay on May 10, 1945 for the campaign’s final phase, the junction of May 23 that cleared the Sayre Highway, and then rejoined the division on Panay. (CMH — Triumph in the Philippines, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

3. Analyzing the Eighth Army’s Economy of Force

Historians of Eichelberger’s southern method use the 40th’s dispersal — regiments to Panay, Negros, and across the top of Mindanao while guerrillas held sectors — as the working example of a division run as three task forces, one of which opened the 31st Division’s new supply route through Macajalar Bay. (CMH — Triumph in the Philippines, Wikipedia — Battle of Mindanao)

4. Tracing National Guard Continuity

For the guard’s institutional history the division is the longest California line — 1917’s Camp Kearny muster, the 1934 waterfront strike call-up, the 1950 mobilization for Korea (Sandbag Castle and Heartbreak Ridge, three Medals of Honor), the Watts and 1992 Los Angeles deployments, and the headquarters that today serves from Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

Strategies

Trade regiments for reach: the 1945 pattern — one division covering Panay, Negros, and the Mindanao endgame simultaneously — exchanged mass for presence, accepting that each regimental combat team fought its own war within the Eighth Army’s schedule. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Open the second door: landing the 108th at Macajalar Bay “both to speed the conquest of Mindanao and to open a new supply route to the 31st Division” — then switching the corps’s logistics to the northern port after the Impalutao junction — put the division’s regiment at the campaign’s operational hinge. (CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Ride the guerrillas’ cleared ground: the 108th landed unopposed “with the assistance of Filipino guerrillas” it met almost at once — the Eighth Army’s signature calculation, prepared ground over assault, documented across this wiki’s Mindanao cluster. (Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Garrison to occupation with veterans: sent to Korea in September 1945, the division carried its combat currency into occupation duty as the 24th did to Kyushu — veteran guard divisions as stabilizers, the same economy that hollowed the occupation four years later. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

Security and Safety Measures

The canyon lesson: the Mangima (“Purple Heart”) canyon delay of May 13–18 — a Japanese force of roughly 1,250 holding a regimental combat team for six days on ground where the highway crossed the gorge — is the division’s recorded warning against underestimating a rearguard on chosen terrain; the official history notes the Japanese chose the same position a Fil-American force had held against them in 1942. (Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)
Reserve on S-Day, hygiene in the jungle: the 108th rode out the Lingayen landing in reserve, and its New Britain seasoning — where “the most dangerous enemy … was not the Japanese Army but the harsh jungle climate” — made disease discipline the regiment’s standing safeguard through the Mindanao weeks. (Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)
For researchers: keep the division’s Philippine ledgers separate — Luzon (January 9–March 2), the Visayas detachments (from March 18), and the 108th RCT’s Mindanao costs (roughly 15 killed and 100 wounded on the highway; 45 killed and 148 wounded in northern Mindanao) — and do not credit the division as a whole with Leyte or with the April Illana Bay landings, which belonged to the 24th and 31st Divisions. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines)

Historical Context

The division’s first existence was the guards of six western states and the replacement depots of France; its interwar second was California’s — the Berkeley and Los Angeles headquarters, the 1934 strike duty — and its third began at Fort Lewis on March 3, 1941. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division) It spent the war’s middle years as the Pacific’s garrison and patrol division — Hawaii, Guadalcanal, New Britain — and met the liberation late: Lingayen on January 9, 1945, the fight through Fort Stotsenburg and the Bambam Hills to Snake Hill and Storm King Mountain, relief on March 2. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

The southern record then unrolled in the dispersal this wiki’s campaign entries document: the division on Panay from March 18 — the operation the corpus records with Col. Macario Peralta’s guerrillas — and at Pulupandan on Negros from March 29, while its 108th RCT made the division’s Mindanao war — the unopposed May 10 landing at Macajalar Bay near Bugo with guerrilla guides, the canyon fight of May 13–18, and the meeting with the 155th Infantry near Impalutao at 1400 on May 23, after which Eighth Army “immediately changed the 31st Division’s supply route to one originating at Macajalar Bay.” (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment, CMH — Triumph in the Philippines, Wikipedia — Battle of Mindanao) The division accepted the Japanese capitulation on Panay on September 2, 1945, spent a year in Korean occupation, and came home on August 7, 1946 to inactivation. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

Reactivated September 1, 1950, it trained in Japan and relieved the 24th Division on line in February 1952 — Sandbag Castle and Heartbreak Ridge, 376 killed and 1,457 wounded — then passed into the California guard’s institutional history: the 40th Armored Division of 1954, the brigade reduction of 1968, the reformed 40th Infantry Division of 1974, the riots and earthquake call-ups, the 2006 modularization, and the September 2017 Afghanistan deployment that was its “first combat deployment since the Korean War,” with headquarters today at Los Alamitos. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)

Challenges and Controversies

Was the 40th a Mindanao Division?

The standing question dissolves at the regimental line: the division’s main body fought Luzon and the Visayas, while only its 108th RCT fought on Mindanao — landing May 10, 1945, after the campaign’s April decisions had been made, for the final Sayre Highway phase — so lists that add the 40th to Mindanao’s assault divisions, or that deny it any Mindanao record, are both wrong at the same seam. (CMH — Triumph in the Philippines, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

No New Guinea, No Leyte — Despite the Lore

The division is sometimes credited with the New Guinea campaigns and a Leyte assault role; the record gives it garrison and patrol duty in Hawaii, Guadalcanal, and New Britain through 1944, a Luzon landing in January 1945, and only a mop-up detachment on Leyte from March 1945 — distinctions order-of-battle work must keep. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

Which Casualty Count Is the Division’s

The World War II total (614 killed, 2,407 wounded of 3,025 battle casualties) is cited beside the 108th’s Mindanao costs and its Leyte mop-up bill — scales that commemorative accounts routinely merge. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division, Wikipedia — 108th Infantry Regiment)

The Nickname Problem

“Sunburst Division” is the official special designation, but “Sunshine Division” and an unofficial Korean War-era nickname circulate; the patch’s own symbols — the demi fleur-de-lis of its France service, the allusions to the Philippine and Korean Presidential Unit Citations and the Luzon assault landing — carry the history the nicknames only abbreviate. (Wikipedia — 40th Infantry Division)