Among the division's first casualties was Captain Mark W. Clark, then commanding the 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, who would later become a four-star general.

The division then served for the next few months in the Army of Occupation, being based in Belgium and Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg until it departed Europe.

[5] The color red was selected in honor of World War I commander John E. McMahon, who was a member of the Army's Field Artillery branch.

[6] The shape of the diamond in the 5th Division's insignia represents strength, because in bridge construction the trusses that provide the greatest durability are mutually supporting isosceles triangles.

During these maneuvers, the 5th Division headquarters was occasionally formed in a provisional status to train Regular and Reserve officers in division-level command and control procedures.

[7] On 16 October 1939, the 5th Division was reactivated as part of the United States mobilization in response to the outbreak of World War II in Europe the previous month, being formed at Fort McClellan, Alabama, under the command of Brigadier General Campbell Hodges.

As the winter passed, the division was brought up to strength and fully equipped for forward deployment into a war zone.

During April 1942, the 5th Division received its overseas orders and departed the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) at the end of the month for Iceland.

[8] The 5th Infantry Division, now commanded by Major General Stafford LeRoy Irwin, left Iceland in early August 1943 and was sent to England to prepare and train for the eventual invasion of Northwest Europe, then scheduled for the spring of 1944.

In February and March, the division drove across and northeast of the Sauer, where it smashed through the Siegfried Line and later took part in the Allied invasion of Germany.

[12] In April the 5th ID, now commanded by Major General Albert E. Brown, after Major General Irwin's promotion to command of XII Corps, took part in clearing the Ruhr Pocket and then drove across the Czechoslovak border, 1 May, reaching Volary and Vimperk as the war in Europe ended.

[12] Under the new "triangular" organization, units assigned included:[14] Following World War II, the 5th Infantry Division was inactivated on 20 September 1946 at Camp Campbell (now Fort) Kentucky.

[citation needed] From 1951 to 1953, the division was stationed at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, and trained 30,000 replacements for the Korean War.

[17] 1st Brigade, 5th Infantry Division was dispatched to South Vietnam after the Tet Offensive to replace a U.S. Marine Corps unit.

In 1989, units of the 5th Division, based at Fort Polk deployed in support of Operation Nimrod Dancer to protect American interests in Panama.

The plan was to get all elements of the 256th Brigade up to standards, and then complete a rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin before the division deployed to Southwest Asia.

All of the division's flags and heraldic items were moved to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia, following its inactivation.

[26] In the Axis & Allies miniatures role-playing game, a U.S. infantry unit was designated "Red Devil Captain."

In the Twilight: 2000 role-playing game, players start out as members of the 5th ID in July 2000, after the division is overrun by Soviet and Polish units near Kalisz, Poland during a hypothetical World War III.

In the 1981 movie Taps, the Red Diamond patch of the 5ID is worn by a Master Sergeant who is the father of one of the cadets at the school.