To recognize the 100th anniversary of the 1st Infantry Division, the century-old “Big Red One” will conduct a division run and a Victory with Honors ceremony Thursday.
The division run will start at 6:30 a.m. on Fort Riley’s Custer Hill. Every unit at Fort Riley will take part in the run, led by Brig. Gen. Patrick D. Frank, 1st Inf. Div. and Fort Riley acting senior commander, and other division leaders. The four-mile path will take soldiers around Custer Hill and past displays of military equipment.
The Victory with Honors ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. This will be the official recognition ceremony for the division’s 100th anniversary, complete with the firing of the period cannon “Old Thunder,” soldiers in uniforms from throughout the division’s history and a look back at the major conflicts that have defined the world and the division over the last century.
The 1st Inf. Div. was initially constituted as the First Expeditionary Division in May 1917 before being officially organized in New York City on June 8, 1917, under the command of Brig. Gen. William L. Siebert. Though the Army had used temporary divisions since the Civil War, the Big Red One was the first divisional unit created to fight in World War I.
