Follow Me is a United States Army memorial located at Fort Moore (formerly Fort Benning), Georgia. It was created in 1959 by two soldiers, Private First Class Manfred Bass, sculptor and designer, and Private First Class Karl H. Van Krog, his assistant. [1] The model for the statue was Eugene Wyles, an officer candidate and twenty-year Army veteran. [2] It depicts a 1950s-era infantry soldier charging forward and gesturing for others to follow.
Originally called The Infantryman, the statue was installed on Eubanks Field on May 3, 1960. In 1964, it was renamed Follow Me and moved in front of Infantry Hall. Some students and graduates of the U.S. Army Infantry School call the statue Iron Mike, after Lieutenant General John W. "Iron Mike" O'Daniel, but most soldiers use the term Iron Mike to refer to the Airborne Trooper statue at the former Fort Bragg, North Carolina. [3]
In 2004, a new bronze version was cast and the original statue was moved to the front of the National Infantry Museum.
"Follow Me!" is also the US Army Infantry motto, attributed to Maj. Gen. Aubrey Newman. [4]
William Laws Calley Jr. is a former United States Army officer and convicted war criminal by court-martial for the murder of 22 unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Mỹ Lai massacre on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. Calley was released to house arrest under orders by President Richard Nixon three days after his conviction. A new trial was ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit but that ruling was overturned by the Supreme Court. Calley served three years of house arrest for the murders. Public opinion at the time about Calley was divided. Since his dismissal from the U.S. Army and release from prison, Calley has avoided public attention.
Harold Gregory Moore Jr. was a United States Army lieutenant general and author. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. Army's second-highest decoration for valor, and was the first of his West Point class (1945) to be promoted to brigadier general, major general, and lieutenant general.
Fort Riley is a United States Army installation located in North Central Kansas, on the Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, between Junction City and Manhattan. The Fort Riley Military Reservation covers 101,733 acres (41,170 ha) in Geary and Riley counties. The portion of the fort that contains housing development is part of the Fort Riley census-designated place, with a residential population of 7,761 as of the 2010 census. The fort has a daytime population of nearly 25,000. The ZIP Code is 66442.
The 25th Infantry Division is a United States Army division based at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. The division, which was activated on 1 October 1941 in Hawaii, conducts military operations primarily in the Asia-Pacific region. Its present deployment is composed of light infantry and aviation units. Tropic Lightning soldiers regularly train with other U.S. military branches to practice and maintain joint operations capabilities. The climate and terrain of the Pacific region demands Tropic Lightning soldiers be able to operate in physically demanding and harsh environments. In 2014, the division opened the Jungle Operations Training Center—the first such school in the Army since the closing of the old Jungle Warfare School at Fort Sherman, Panama Canal Zone. Joint operations and training with partner states herald a new chapter in the history of Tropic Lightning—America's Pacific Division.
Fort Moore is a United States Army post near Columbus, Georgia, adjacent to the Alabama–Georgia border. Fort Moore supports more than 120,000 active-duty military, family members, reserve component soldiers, retirees and civilian employees on a daily basis. As a power projection platform, the post can deploy combat-ready forces by air, rail, and highway for their designated mission. Fort Moore is the home of the United States Army Maneuver Center of Excellence, the United States Army Armor School, United States Army Infantry School, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, elements of the 75th Ranger Regiment, the 1st Security Force Assistance Brigade, and other tenant units.
Fort Campbell is a United States Army installation located astride the Kentucky–Tennessee border between Hopkinsville, Kentucky and Clarksville, Tennessee. Fort Campbell is home to the 101st Airborne Division and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment. The fort is named in honor of Union Army Brigadier General William Bowen Campbell, the last Whig Governor of Tennessee.
The 98th Infantry Division ("Iroquois") was a unit of the United States Army in the closing months of World War I and during World War II. The unit is now one of the U.S. Army Reserve's training divisions, officially known as the 98th Training Division. The 98th Training Division's current primary mission is to conduct Initial Entry Training (IET) for new soldiers. It is one of three training divisions subordinate to the 108th Training Command (IET).
Fort Huachuca is a United States Army installation, established on 3 March 1877 as Camp Huachuca. The garrison is now under the command of the United States Army Installation Management Command. It is in Cochise County in southeast Arizona, approximately 15 miles (24 km) north of the border with Mexico and at the northern end of the Huachuca Mountains, adjacent to the town of Sierra Vista. From 1913 to 1933, the fort was the base for the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry Regiment. During the build-up of World War II, the fort had quarters for more than 25,000 male soldiers and hundreds of WACs. In the 2010 census, Fort Huachuca had a population of about 6,500 active duty soldiers, 7,400 military family members, and 5,000 civilian employees. Fort Huachuca has over 18,000 people on post during weekday work hours.
The United States Army's Officer Candidate School (OCS) is an officer candidate school located at Fort Moore, Georgia, that trains, assesses, and evaluates potential commissioned officers of the U.S. Army, U.S. Army Reserve, and Army National Guard. Officer candidates are former enlisted members, warrant officers, inter-service transfers, or civilian college graduates who enlist for the "OCS Option" after they complete Basic Combat Training (BCT). The latter are often referred to as college ops.
Iron Mike is the de facto name of various monuments commemorating servicemen of the United States military. The term "Iron Mike" is uniquely American slang used to refer to men who are especially tough, brave, and inspiring; it was originally a nautical term for a gyrocompass, used to keep a ship on an unwavering course. Because the use of the slang term was popular in the first half of the 20th century, many statues from that period acquired the Iron Mike nickname, and over the generations the artists' titles were largely forgotten. Even official military publications and classroom texts tend to prefer the nickname to the original titles.
The 47th Infantry Regiment is an infantry regiment of the United States Army. Constituted in 1917 at Camp Syracuse, New York, the regiment fought in the Great War, and was later inactivated in 1921. Reactivated in 1940, the regiment fought during World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and Western Europe, then was inactivated in 1946. During the Cold War, the regiment saw multiple activations and inactivations, with service both in the Regular Army and the Army Reserve; it fought in Vietnam. Ultimately it was reactivated as a training regiment, and as of 1999, it has been assigned to Fort Moore and consists of two active battalions.
The United States Army Infantry School is a school located at Fort Moore, Georgia that is dedicated to training infantrymen for service in the United States Army.
Private Joseph Pantillion Martínez born in Taos, New Mexico, was a United States Army soldier who posthumously received the Medal of Honor — the United States' highest military decoration —- for his actions on the Aleutian Islands during World War II. Private Joseph P. Martínez was the first Hispanic-American and first Coloradan to receive the Medal of Honor during World War II. His posthumous award was the first act for combat heroism on American soil since the Indian Wars.
Robert Burton Nett was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during the campaign to recapture the Philippines in World War II.
Michael Colalillo was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration – the Medal of Honor – for his actions during World War II.
Aubrey Strode "Red" Newman (1903–1994) was a United States Army major general with 34 years of service. During World War II, Newman commanded the 34th Infantry Regiment of the 24th Infantry Division during the Philippines Campaign. His cry of "Follow Me!" at Leyte rallied his troops and inspired American infantrymen for decades. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC), the nation's second-highest award for valor in combat, for extraordinary heroism during this battle.
The 34th Infantry Regiment is a Regular Army infantry regiment of the United States Army. It saw combat in World War I, in the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II, and was the first full American regiment deployed in combat in the Korean War. The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 34th are now basic training formations attached to the 165th Infantry Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.
The Battle of Lanzerath Ridge was fought on December 16, 1944, the first day of the Battle of the Bulge during World War II, near the village of Lanzerath, Belgium, along the key route for the German advance on the northern shoulder of the operation. The American force consisted of two squads totalling 18 men belonging to a reconnaissance platoon and four forward artillery observers, against a German battalion of about 500 paratroopers. During a day-long confrontation, the American defenders inflicted dozens of casualties on the Germans and delayed by almost 20 hours the advance of the entire 1st SS Panzer Division, the spearhead of the German 6th Panzer Army.
The National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center is a museum located in Columbus, Georgia, just outside the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Moore. The 190,000-square-foot museum opened in June 2009.