Every military infantry division needs a name.

Most get numbers, and some have nicknames. The 42nd Infantry Division got a rainbow.

The story of how is one of the most interesting origin stories in American military history.

The United States government looked at Vito Bertoldo and said: not you.

He was 4-F, what the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 established as unfit for military service. To be 4-F was to be deemed physically, mentally, or morally disqualified from service. For many men this was a welcome reprieve, but for some it was a point of contention, humiliation, and a catalyst for determination.

Vito Bertoldo had nearsightedness so severe that the Army rejected him, and stamped a document saying he was exempt from the draft. The machinery of wartime America, which was consuming men by the millions, looked at this coal miner from Decatur, Illinois, and determined he was not fit for the fight.

He enlisted anyway.