72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)

The 72nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team is a unit of the Texas Army National Guard and is subordinate to the 36th Infantry Division.

The 72nd Infantry Brigade was organized at Camp Bowie, Texas, in July, 1917. A unit of the 36th Infantry Division, the 72nd Brigade included the 3rd and 4th Texas Infantry Regiments. These regiments served on the Mexico-United States border during the Pancho Villa Expedition, and then were organized and federalized for World War I as the 133rd Machine Gun Battalion, and 143rd and 144th Infantry Regiments.

The 72nd Brigade arrived in France in July, 1918, and took part in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of September, October and November which led to the German surrender. In early 1919 the 72nd Brigade was mustered out at Camp Bowie.

When the National Guard was reorganized following passage of the National Defense Act of 1920, the 36th Infantry Division was continued as a Texas National Guard organization, with the 72nd Brigade as a subordinate command. The Army discontinued machine gun battalions, and the 72nd Brigade consisted of the 143rd and 144th Infantry Regiments.

The 36th Division, including the 72nd Brigade, was federalized in 1940 for service during World War II. A 1942 restructuring led to the Army discontinuing the use of brigade headquarters in favor of regiments reporting directly to the division headquarters, and Headquarters, 72nd Brigade was inactivated, though its regiments continued as part of the 36th Infantry Division, and saw combat in North Africa, Italy, and France, as well as in the Pacific Theater.

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