The 42nd “Rainbow” Division Wall of Honor
Lorraine American National Cemetery © Erin Faith Allen
Today I am proud to share that the 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division Wall of Honor is live HERE.
The Wall of Honor holds the names of 687 men of the 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division who died in service to the nation during World War II. They were sons, brothers, husbands, and fathers. They trained at Camp Gruber, Oklahoma. They crossed the Atlantic and arrived in France in the winter of 1944. They fought through the frozen forests of Alsace in Operation Nordwind, breached the Siegfried Line in Operation Undertone, fought through Würzburg, Schweinfurt, Furth, and Nuremberg, and on April 29, 1945, stood at the gates of Dachau and liberated its prisoners, then captured Munich.
Each soldier has his own page with name, rank, unit, hometown, date of death, place of burial. If you are a family member, there is a way to reach me directly from his page. Family stories, as well as corrections to the record, are always welcome and treated with care.
This database was passed to Fortitude for stewardship by the son of a Rainbow Division veteran, who declined being named for his contribution, and asked that the work speak for itself.
It does.
If your family has a connection to the 42nd “Rainbow” Infantry Division, I’d love to hear from you. Please reach out here.
Erin Faith Allen is an investigative war historian and the founder of Fortitude Research, specializing in WWII archival research, wartime reconstruction, Holocaust documentation, and the recovery of women's wartime histories. She is a leading authority on the 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division and the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. Her forthcoming book, One Day Over the Rhine, is in active development.
All original photographs and written work published on this site are copyright Erin Faith Allen. Historical and archival images are used where they exist in the public domain.
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