The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, also known as The Ghost Army, was activated in January of 1944 at Camp Forrest, TN.

The unit of 1,100 soldiers was the first mobile, multi-media, tactical deception unit in US Army history. They used sound effects, inflatable tanks and trucks and their imagination to fool the Germans.  They staged 20 battlefield missions, many of which were close to the front lines. In January 2022, the soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their service.

In late 1942, The US Army created a Ranger School at Camp Forrest, TN. The purpose was to train soldiers in “rough and tumble fighting and special techniques.” The training included: sniping, ambush, infiltration, making booby traps and sabotage. The 2nd and 5th Ranger Battalions were among the first soldiers to land at Normandy on D-day. Their job was to scale the cliffs of Pointe du Hoc, France, then go inland and destroy the German bunkers and machine gun posts.

The Army established the 758th Tank Battalion in Fort Knox, KY in January 1941. They were the Army’s first all-African American armored unit. The 758th trained in the Tennessee Maneuvers in June 1942. Because of segregation, African American soldiers had to be transported, fed and housed separately. To note which units were African American, an asterisk was placed on instruction sheets. This included the 758th Tank Battalion and the 76th and 77th Light Pontoon Engineer Companies. The 758th saw combat in northern Italy and assisted in that country’s liberation. In July 1948, President Truman signed executive order number 9981 which began the de-segregation of the Armed Forces.