Army, and Ridgway approved inactivating the regiment to disassociate all divisional elements with segregation. The Army Staff transferred the 14th Infantry, less its personnel and equipment, from the United States to the Far East Command, and on 1 August 1951 the regiment replaced the 24th in the division. Most of the 24th's black soldiers were dispersed throughout the command, while white soldiers to fill the 14th were drawn from the 34th Infantry in Japan. Units in the other regional commands integrated soon thereafte.r[1]
Readjustment of Divisional Forces
Hostilities ended in Korea on 23 July 1953 when the United Nations and North Korea signed an armistice, but demobilization, like mobilization, did not follow a preplanned course. A threat still hung over Korea, and the defense of Western Europe remained of paramount concern. The size of the Army depended on the new president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, inaugurated in January 1953, who was committed to reducing military expenditures. Between 1 July 1953 and 1 July 1956, the Congress, at the president's request, cut the active Army from 1.5 to 1 million men, a reduction that required major adjustments in divisional forces/[2]
By that time the annual load in the training centers had stabilized at a lower peacetime level, and the Army Staff had turned its attention to improving the General Reserve, particularly as a reenforcement force for Europe. In October 1953 the staff designated the 1st Armored Division and 44th Infantry Division as 30-day reinforcement units for NATO and named the 82d Airborne Division as the Western Hemisphere's contingency force. To bring these and other divisions in the General Reserve up to war levels, the 5th Infantry, 7th Armored, and 101st Airborne Divisions, which had been operating training centers, were inactivated and their personnel reassigned. The training center operated by the 10th Infantry Division was also closed, and a new mission was planned for the division.[3]
In December 1953 Eisenhower, who had hesitated to reduce forces in Korea because of the precarious armistice, announced that two of the seven U.S. Army divisions there were to return home, a step permitted by improved capabilities of the South Korean Army. United States Army Forces, Far East, selected the 40th and 45th Infantry Divisions for return to the United States, and they departed Korea in the spring of 1954 with only a token personnel complement. Shortly thereafter the divisions were released from active federal service and reverted to state control. Concerned about the effects of demobilization because of events in Southeast Asia (the French were on the verge of withdrawing from that area), Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson suspended further reductions in the Far East Command on 7 April 1954.[4]
Although the Army could retain National Guard designations for five years, Secretary Wilson decided to release the 28th, 31st, 37th, and 43d Infantry Divisions to state control in June 1954. This decision was primarily an adminis-
- ↑ MacGregor, Integration of the Armed Forces, pp. 442–45; Bernard C. Nalty and Morris J. MacGregor, Blacks in the Military: Essential Documents (Wilmington, Del.; Scholarly Resources Inc., 1981), pp. 309–11; Ltr, TAG to CGs, Third and Fifth Armies, 9 Aug 51, sub: Change in Status of Certain General Reserve Units, AGAO-I 322 (26 Jul 51) G–1–M, 14th Inf file, DAMH-HSO; "FE Racial Integration Means New Names for 2 Regiments," Army Times, 4 Aug 52.
- ↑ Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1954 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. 1960), pp. 121–25; Coakley et al., "Demobilization," pp. 8–9.
- ↑ Coakley et al., "Demobilization," pp, 69–72, 85–87.
- ↑ Eisenhower, Papers of the Presidents, 1953, pp. 860–61; Coakley et al., "Demobilization," pp. 28–29; "Induction and Release of Army National Guard Units," pp. 21–24. In 1952 General Mark W. Clark reorganized the Far East Command as a unified command with U.S. Army Forces, Far East, as the Army's element.
