37th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 37th Infantry Regiment is an inactive unit of the United States Army. It began in 1866 as the 3rd Battalion of the 19th Infantry and was redesignated the 37th at Little Rock Arsenal, Arkansas. In 1869, Army reductions split the regiment, with portions becoming the 3rd and 5th Infantry Regiments. The 37th was later reconstituted and reorganized.
In 1916 the regiment was reconstituted in the Regular Army as the 37th Infantry, organized at Fort Sam Houston, Texas from personnel of the 3rd, 9th, and 30th Regiments under Colonel Julius Penn. It patrolled the Rio Grande and the Mexican border from Fort McIntosh, Texas. The 2nd Battalion moved to Camp Marfa in 1920. By October 1920 the regiment was split between Fort Wayne, Michigan and Fort Brady, Michigan, and it was inactivated in 1921 at Fort Wayne with personnel transferred to the 54th Infantry. Active Associate units (the 18th Infantry in 1921, then the 13th Infantry in 1922) would provide personnel if war occurred. The regiment was assigned to the 9th Division in 1923 and reorganized in 1926 as a Regular Army Inactive unit in the First Corps Area, later moved to the Second Corps Area. It affiliated with Rutgers University ROTC in 1928 and with other colleges for ROTC programs, training mainly at Camp Dix.
During World War II, the 37th was activated on August 1, 1941, at Unalaska, Alaska, under the Alaskan Defense Command. It moved to Adak and Atka, then to Canada and Oregon in early 1944, and later to Camp White, Oregon; then to Camp Phillips, Kansas, and finally to Fort Benning, Georgia, for paratrooper training. It was inactivated on February 5, 1945. The regiment was reactivated on August 1, 1946, at Fort Benning and finally inactivated on January 25, 1949, at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
The World War II–era insignia features a blue shield with a wavy white band representing the Rio Grande and a white star, with the motto “FOR FREEDOM” on a silver scroll. The insignia was approved on January 8, 1941.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 14:09 (CET).