[1] The 86th Division was first organized on August 25, 1917, about four months after the American entry into World War I, at Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois.

[2] Frederic McLaughlin was a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I.

In 1926, McLaughlin was granted a franchise by the National Hockey League, which he named the Chicago Blackhawks after his wartime unit.

[3] The 86th Division headquarters arrived at the port of Hoboken, New Jersey, aboard the troopship USS Siboney on 3 January 1919 after 4 months of overseas service and was demobilized on 18 April 1919 at Camp Custer, Michigan.

The headquarters was relocated on 18 October 1921 to the Leiter Building at 14 East Congress Street and remained there until activated for World War II.

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

Unlike the Regular and Guard units in the Sixth Corps Area, the 86th Division did not participate in the various Sixth Corps Area maneuvers and the Second Army maneuvers of 1935, 1939, and 1940 as an organized unit due to lack of enlisted personnel and equipment.

[6] The first appointed commander of the 86th Infantry Division, Major General Alexander E. Anderson, died of a sudden heart attack on 24 December 1942 at the age of 53.

He was replaced in January 1943 by Major General Harris M. Melasky, who led the division throughout the remainder of its combat service in World War II.

The 86th and 97th Infantry Divisions, allocated for service in the Pacific, were ordered to the European Theater of Operations instead for the final assault on Germany.

On 21 April, the division moved to Ansbach and continued to advance, taking Eichstätt on the 25th, crossing the Danube at Ingolstadt on the 27th, securing the bridge over the Amper Canal, 29 April, crossing the Isar and reaching Mittel Isar Canal by the end of the month.

As the 86th advanced into the Ruhr region, the troops discovered the Attendorn civilian slave labor camp on April 11, 1945.

After processing German prisoners of war, it was redeployed to the United States, the 14,289 officers and men arriving in New York aboard four Navy transports[5] 17 June 1945.

[9] The 86th was redesignated HQ 86th Training Brigade on 11 Feb 2009 and activated at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin on 16 September 2010.