During its activities the Division lost 248 men and 7 officers killed and died of wounds. There were a number of individual citations for bravery, and one entire battalion belonging to the 367th Infantry was awarded the Croix de Guerre. On the morning of the signing of the Armistice the 365th Infantry had taken several hundred yards of the battle front, the 366th had captured and was still in possession of several kilometers of territory, and the 367th was nearest to the coveted stronghold of Metz of any of the units of the Allied Armies. Had the war lasted another day, the entire Division, along with six other divisions, had been selected to absorb the first shock of the battle.
Because of some unusually interesting things that happened in connection with the 367th Infantry, and because it has the distinction of having the only entire unit of the 92nd Division that was awarded the Croix de Guerre, its full history follows in some detail:
The 367th Infantry
The 367th Infantry came into existence at Camp Upton, N. Y., during the latter part of October, 1917. Sixty per cent of the soldiers who composed this regiment were from the State of New York, the South furnished 20 per cent, while the remainder came from New England and the West. It was commanded by Colonel Moss, a regular army man, originally from Louisiana, and an authority on military tactics, having published several books on the subject. He took charge of the regiment on November 2, 1917, and spent the winter in giving it what is said to have been the most thorough training of all the drafted regiments. He also christened the organization with the name of Buffaloes; this name had been given to colored soldiers by the Indians, in the early western pioneer days, when colored troops made it so interesting for the Red Men in frontier warfare, as to remind them of the buffaloes of their own great western plains. The name was finally adopted by the entire 92nd Division.
SCENE OF DEVASTATION IN WAR-TORN FRANCE
On June 10, 1918, the regiment embarked for France, landing at Brest on June 19. They rested for a few days in dog tents, pitched on the cold wet ground at Camp Pontanezen, and then entrained for Haute Saone, where they were given seven weeks’ intensive training in trench warfare and gas instruction, along with the other regiments of the 92nd Division. Several officers, both white and colored, were given additional training in the American Training School at Gondrecourt.
On August 22, the regiment took over its first trenches at the front in the Vosges Sector, where they remained until September 18, during which time numerous raids, patrols, etc., were planned and executed.
One of the interesting things that happened to them while in this sector, was the dropping of propaganda literature from German aircraft. The following circular was picked up by them on September 3, 1918:
TO THE COLORED SOLDIERS OF THE UNITED
STATES ARMY