[3] The Division was composed of the following units:[2] From England, the 339th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 310th Engineers, and 337th Ambulance and Field Hospital Companies sailed to Arkhangelsk, in the former Russian Empire, as part of the Polar Bear Expedition to fight alongside the White Army against the Red Army in the Russian Civil War.

[2] When the remainder of the division arrived in France as part of the American Expeditionary Forces, it was reduced to cadre strength and designated the 4th Depot Division, being used to receive, equip, train, and forward casualty replacements and personnel returned from hospitals to frontline combat units.

[4] The 85th Division headquarters arrived at the port of Hoboken, New Jersey, aboard the troopship RMS Aquitania on 29 March 1919 after 6 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 18 April at Camp Custer.

The division headquarters was called to active duty for training there as a unit on a number of occasions, the first time being in April 1926.

Other units, such as the special troops, artillery, engineers, aviation, medical, and quartermaster trained at various posts in the Sixth and Seventh Corps Areas.

In October, the division was transferred to Fort Dix, New Jersey, for final preparations before shipment overseas.

Major General John B. Coulter succeeded Haislip as the 85th's commander and retained this position throughout the war.

[7] [8] [9][10] The 85th Infantry Division left the United States on 24 December 1943 and arrived in Casablanca, French Morocco on 2 January 1944.

The 339th Regimental Combat Team was the first division element to depart Port-Aux-Poules for movement to the Italian Campaign.

The 85th Division, under II Corps of the U.S. Fifth Army under Mark W. Clark, was committed to action as a unit, 10 April 1944, north of the Garigliano River, facing the Gustav Line, and held defensive positions for a month.

The Gustav Line had been smashed and the 85th started for a rest area on 29 May, but was ordered to the Lariano sector which the division cleared by the 31st.

The division attacked the mountain defenses of the Gothic Line on 13 September, and broke through, taking Firenzuola on the 21st.

After a brief training period, the 85th, now under the command of Major General Willis D. Crittenberger's IV Corps, during the final offensive in Italy, thrust southwest of Bologna on 14 April, pushing through Lucca and Pistoia into the Po Valley as enemy resistance collapsed.

Four soldiers of the Division (First lieutenant Orville Emil Bloch, Sergeant Chris Carr (born Christos H. Karaberis), Staff sergeant George Dennis Keathley, and First Lieutenant Robert T. Waugh) were awarded the Medal of Honor (the last two posthumously).

The division returned to the United States and was disbanded at Camp Patrick Henry, Virginia on 26 August 1945.

Additionally, the division was tasked to assist First Army units at mobilization to validate their readiness for deployment.