The 79th Division saw extensive combat in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive area where it earned the name of "Cross of Lorraine" for their defense of France.

Private Henry Gunther, the last American soldier to be killed in action during World War I, served with the 313th Infantry Regiment of the 79th Division.

The headquarters of the “Lorraine Division” was originally organized on 29 September 1921 at the Schuylkill Arsenal, 2620 Gray’s Ferry Road in Philadelphia.

It was again relocated in 1935 to the New Custom House Building at Second and Chestnut Streets and remained there until activated for World War II.

The division headquarters usually conducted its summer training there, and on a number of occasions, participated in command post exercises there as well.

[3] The 79th Infantry Division was ordered into active military service at Camp Pickett, Virginia on 15 June 1942, around a cadre of officers and enlisted men from officer candidate schools and the 4th Infantry Division, with the general staff selected by the War Department and Army Ground Forces.

The initial enlisted fillers for the division arrived over a period of about two weeks after activation, and were principally Selective Service men from reception centers in the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Corps Areas, comprising the Mid-Atlantic, Southern, Great Lakes, and Midwestern states (the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North and South Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming) After basic training, it participated in exercises in the Tennessee Maneuver Area, after which it moved to Camp Laguna near Yuma, Arizona, where it trained in the desert.

After training in the United Kingdom from 17 April 1944, the 79th Infantry Division landed on Utah Beach, Normandy, 12–14 June and entered combat 19 June 1944, with an attack on the high ground west and northwest of Valognes and high ground south of Cherbourg Naval Base.

It was around this time that Corporal John D. Kelly and First Lieutenant Carlos C. Ogden, both of the 314th Infantry Regiment, were awarded the Medal of Honor.

The 79th beat off German attacks at Hatten and Rittershoffen in an 11-day battle before withdrawing to new defensive positions south of Haguenau on the Moder River, 19 January 1945.

During February and March 1945, the division mopped up German resistance, returned to offensive combat, 24 March 1945, crossed the Rhine, drove across the Rhine-Herne Canal, 7 April, secured the north bank of the Ruhr and took part in clearing the Ruhr Pocket until 13 April.

The division then went on occupation duty, in the Dortmund, Sudetenland, and Bavarian areas successively, until its return to the United States and inactivation.

The 79th Infantry Division is now the 79th Sustainment Support Command (SSC) headquartered at Joint Forces Training Base (JFTB) Los Alamitos, California.