"I Maintain The Right"

THE BEGINNING

The 307^th‘s illustrious career began on 3^rd August 1917 when it was constituted as part of the 82^nd Infantry Division under the command of Colonel Earl I. Brown.

The formal designation at this time was the 307^th Engineer Regiment. Organized at Camp Gordon, Georgia on 27^th August 1917 with a Regimental Headquarters, a Headquarters Company and two Battalions holding A, B, C, D, E & F Companies. The Regiment trained and equipped here until deployment overseas on the 8^th May 1918 arriving in Le Harve, France on 3^rd June 1918 and entering the line later the same month.

While in France the Regiment performed many tasks from building fortifications, clearing wire entanglements, dugouts, supporting infantry attacks, building & repairing bridges to acting as line infantry when needed.

Men of the 307^th had the honor of being the first to capture prisoners in the Division when capturing a German Machine gun nest during an attack.

While in the Muese Argonne sector it was determined that a quarry near Apremont was the key to the defense of the Divisions right flank. Two Platoons of Company D along with four Machine guns and two squads of attached infantry under the command of an Engineer Lieutenant were given the task of holding the quarry. Because of its importance the division ordered that no man was to leave the position unless relived or directly ordered by division HQ. The Germans began their attack on the quarry from two directions and surrounded the quarry at one point. The sappers and infantry put up a stout defense and lost no ground, they inflicted five hundred casualties on the enemy for twelve men wounded, four gassed and one missing in return. Information extracted from eleven prisoners taken suggested that twelve infantry companies of one hundred and twenty men each and one machine gun company attacked the positions. Seeing the battle unfold Division Headquarters sent a messenger to inquire about their operational status. The Lieutenant in command sent the messenger back to headquarters with the message:-

“I MAINTAIN THE RIGHT.”

Meaning of course that he and his men were holding firm on the right flank. Later from this reply the motto for the Battalion was created and it has stuck right up to the present day.

The 307^th supported the 82^nd Infantry Division in France until the 27^th April 1919