Above: Signal Headquarters, 60th Brigade, 30th Division, near
Premont, France, October 7, 1918. Click on image for a larger
view. The 30th Division initially comprised National Guard units
from North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Its name,
"Old Hickory Division," honored President Andrew Jackson, who
had connections with all three states. The division garnered
several distinctions in the war: it was the first to break the
German Hindenburg Line on the Cambrai-St. Quentin front, and its
soldiers were awarded more Congressional Medals of Honor than
those in any other American division. Most of the 30th Division
soldiers had just returned from the U.S.-Mexican border when the
division was called into federal service on July 25, 1917. It
was ordered to Camp Sevier, near Greenville, South Carolina, to
prepare for war. In October a contingent of draftees arrived to
increase the division to full wartime strength of about 27,000
men. In May 1918 the division traveled to New York and soon left
for Europe. A