Army Reserve 85th Division set to disband
The Army Reserve 85th Division, headquartered in Arlington Heights, will disband after 90 years of service, an Army spokesman confirmed Thursday.
"In response to the global war on terrorism, many reserve units are streamlining," said Lt. Col. Paula Z. Jones, a public affairs officer with the 85th Division. "This doesn't mean our soldiers don't have work to do, some divisions are just getting smaller."
Others, like the 85th, are being made inactive.
The around 200 reservists at the Arlington Heights site will be transferred to other divisions, Jones said.
Members of the 85th participate in a variety of training techniques, including computer simulated war games.
The Arlington Heights Army building will remain at 1515 W. Central Road after the division is inactivated.
"It will still be under the command of the Army Reserve but serve as a regional support group," Jones said.
The 85th Division was first activated on Aug. 25, 1917 in Michigan and was named for the famous cavalry commander George Armstrong Custer. Its members have fought in wars dating back to World War 1.
Today, the unit is still called the Custer Division, and its members are nicknamed "Custermen," who wear khaki patches on their uniforms with large red "CDs".
"Although many of us remember George Armstrong Custer only for the battle he lost at Little BigHorn to Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, the people of Michigan knew him for his victories instead," according to a written history on the group. "(Custer) was a Midwestern fighter and a winner."
The 85th participated in many bloody World War 11 battles, during which four "Custermen" earned Medals of Honor. In 1945, the division returned to the United States and eventually became a training unit.
The division moved its headquarters from Chicago to Arlington Heights in the mid-'80s, Jones said.
In 2000, a new $14.8-million addition expanded the facility's capacity to more than 300 full-time employees and more than 900 weekend personnel.
The 85th Division Department of the Army will host an inactivation ceremony at 10 a.m. on Sunday to celebrate the division's history at 1515 W. Central Road in Arlington Heights. More than 500 people are expected, including many former Custermen.
The ceremony will include military officials and bagpipers -- and of courses, a tribute to General Custer.
To wrap up the ceremony, an Army official will fold the Custer Division's flag and give it to a person impersonating Custer on a horse, Jones said.
"With the flag, he will ride west, into the sun," she said.