129th Infantry Regiment (United States)

The 129th Infantry Regiment is a United States military unit of the Illinois National Guard. The 129th served in World War I and World War II.

Interwar period
the 129th Infantry arrived at the port of New York on 23 May 1919 on the USS Leviathan as an element of the 33rd Division, and was demobilized 6 June 1919 at Camp Grant, Illinois. It was reconstituted in the National Guard in 1921, assigned to the 33rd Division, and allotted to the state of Illinois. It was partially organized in 1921 as the 3rd Infantry, Illinois National Guard, and redesignated as the 129th Infantry on 13 December 1921. The headquarters was organized on 30 January 1924 and federally recognized at Pontiac, Illinois, and relocated on 1 November 1930 to Sycamore, Illinois. The regiment, or elements thereof, was called up to perform the following state duties: tornado relief work at Carbondale, Illinois, 18 March–13 April 1925; martial law in connection with civil disorders in Mundelein, Illinois, 23–25 June 1926; three companies for riot control at the Joliet Prison Riot, 18–23 March 1931; 3rd Battalion acted as honor guard for President Herbert Hoover at the rededication of the Lincoln Tomb at Springfield, Illinois, 17 June 1931; entire regiment for strike duty at a coal miners’ strike at Springfield and Taylorville, Illinois, in March–April 1933; and three companies for strike duty at a labor strike in Freeport, Illinois, in June 1935. The regiment conducted annual summer training most years at Camp Grant, from 1922 to 39. For at least one year, in 1936, the regiment also trained some 15 company-grade infantry officers of the 86th Division at Camp Grant. It was inducted into active federal service at Sycamore on 5 March 1941 and moved to Camp Forrest, Tennessee, where it arrived 20 March 1941.

World War II
The 129th Infantry Regiment was detached from the 33rd Infantry Division on 31 July 1943, sent as a garrison force to Espiritu Santo, and later assigned to the 37th Infantry Division on Bougainville during the Bougainville campaign on 13 November. The 129th Infantry Regiment participated during the Philippines campaign and was detached and attached to the 33rd Infantry Division between 26 March and 10 April 1945, before rejoining the 37th Infantry Division.

Modern
The regiment is now known as the 129th Regiment (Regional Training Institute), providing training for Illinois National Guard personnel at the Illinois Military Academy at Camp Lincoln, Springfield, Illinois. The 129th Infantry Drive in Joliet, Illinois is named in honor of the regiment.