[citation needed] The 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 34th are now basic training formations attached to the 165th Infantry Brigade at Fort Jackson, South Carolina.

There was a 34th Infantry Regiment in the War of 1812, constituted on 29 January 1813 by enrolling several militia companies from Maine (then Massachusetts) into regular service.

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Congress increased the Regular Army by authorizing the creation of nine new, three-battalion infantry regiments.

The current 34th Infantry Regiment was organized at El Paso, Texas on 15 July 1916, four months into the Punitive Expedition into Mexico led by Major General John J. Pershing.

On 28 July 1932, regular forces were assembled in Washington, D.C. under the direct command of the Army Chief of Staff, General Douglas MacArthur, to break up the Bonus Army, a protest group largely made up of unemployed World War I veterans seeking pensions from the Herbert Hoover administration.

[citation needed] In November 1941, the regiment was assigned to the Philippine Department to reinforce the islands, as the prospects of war with Japan increased, and was transferred on 3 December 1941 to the San Francisco Port of Embarkation.

[7] The 34th was awaiting embarkation on 7 December when the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into the war.

[8] The regiment was reassigned to the Hawaiian Department and its convoy rerouted to Oahu, where it arrived on 21 December.

The 34th served as division reserve during the Operation Reckless landings at Tanahmerah Bay, Netherlands New Guinea on 22 April 1944.

In early June the 34th was attached to the 41st Infantry Division, whose assault on Biak Island was meeting unexpected resistance.

On 16 February 1945 the 3rd Battalion under Col. Aubrey S. "Red" Newman amphibiously assaulted Corregidor and assisted the 503rd Parachute Regimental Combat Team in capturing the island.

[9] According to Stephen J. Lofgren who prepared the pamphlet, Southern Philippines in the U.S. Army's Center of Military History series The US Army Campaigns of WWII, "The Southern Philippines Campaign usually is given short shrift in popular histories of World War II."

"[14] This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.