33rd Infantry Division in World War II

Reference Entry

The Illinois division’s wartime service led through Hawaii, New Guinea and Morotai to northern Luzon, where difficult terrain, combined operations and widely separated small-unit actions defined its contribution.

Scope of this history

The division’s World War II service, not its World War I history or a present-day order of battle. Recipient connections identify historical unit service at the cited action; they do not imply participation in every operation described.

From Illinois to the Pacific

The 33rd Infantry Division entered federal service on March 5, 1941, before the United States entered the Second World War. Its preparation took it from Illinois through training areas in Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Washington and California. Leaving San Francisco in July 1943, the division reached Hawaii, where installation defense accompanied jungle training. Combat service followed years of preparation, not an immediate passage from mobilization to battle. [1]

By the Luzon campaign, the division’s infantry consisted of the 123rd, 130th and 136th Infantry Regiments. Engineers and supporting troops sustained those regiments. The division was not an independent regiment bearing the number 33. [1]

New Guinea, Morotai and the approach to Luzon

The National Diet Library’s description of the division’s operational records traces its movement from Hawaii to Finschhafen, New Guinea, in spring 1944. Training there was followed by movement to Morotai late that year and operations extending into January 1945. The chronology then carries the formation to Lingayen Gulf. These successive staging areas placed the division within the wider advance through the southwest Pacific before its principal Philippine fighting. [2]

The 33rd arrived on Luzon in early February 1945 and relieved the 43rd Infantry Division in the Damortis–Rosario–Pozorrubio area. It was therefore entering an established campaign, not making the original January assault landing. Its direction of advance led from the coastal approaches toward Baguio and the defenses of northern Luzon. [1]

The mountain front and its limits

The Army’s campaign history describes an initially restricted holding mission on the Baguio front. Route 11 ran through the Bued River gorge beneath commanding ridges, with numerous bridges vulnerable to destruction. Alternatives through the Tuba Trail and Galiano–Asin area also demanded difficult movement. Major General Percy W. Clarkson sought opportunities to advance, but corps-level priorities constrained how much strength he could commit. Obstacles and force allocations shaped the pace. [3]

Bulldozers of the 108th Engineers cut mountain trails to support the advance. Roads were combat assets: opening a route made it possible for supporting weapons and supplies to follow the infantry rather than leaving forward companies isolated on the heights. [1]

Dexter Kerstetter near Galiano

On April 13, 1945, Private First Class Dexter J. Kerstetter of Company C, 130th Infantry, confronted the close-range defenses that made this terrain so dangerous. His unit was attacking along a narrow ridge bordered by steep cliffs. When enemy fire stopped the leading soldiers, he advanced ahead of his squad, descended from the trail and attacked defenders near a cave. Returning to the ridge, he continued against a machine-gun position before exhausting his ammunition. [4] [5]

Kerstetter then returned for ammunition and treatment of a hand blistered by his hot rifle. He guided another platoon into a position from which it could continue the assault. His citation connects individual initiative to the capture and defense of a hill, not to the capture of Baguio single-handedly. The sequence also shows the limits of a lone advance: replenishment and the arrival of a fresh platoon were necessary to turn his gains into a position the unit could hold. [4]

Baguio: a combined advance

The final advance involved the 33rd and 37th Divisions and Filipino forces, including the 66th Infantry of USAFIP(NL). The Army history dates a 37th Division patrol’s entry into Baguio to April 24 and the securing of most of the city to April 26. Patrols of the 33rd entered from the south and southwest on April 27. That sequence explains why accounts can emphasize different dates without describing an entirely different operation. [3]

Taking the city did not destroy all opposing forces. Japanese troops withdrew to new defenses, leaving further fighting ahead. The 33rd’s pressure helped the combined advance even where its own regiments struggled to gain ground. Baguio was an important achievement within the northern Luzon campaign, not the end of that campaign. [3]

John McKinney and the Dingalan Bay outpost

Private John R. McKinney’s action on May 11 belonged to a different setting. His Company A, 123rd Infantry, defended an outpost near Dingalan Bay in Tayabas Province. Shortly before dawn, attackers concentrated on a light machine-gun position. McKinney, resting nearby after his turn at the gun, was struck by an enemy soldier but recovered his rifle. With one comrade wounded and another carrying him away, he fought to regain control of the emplacement. [6] [7]

The machine gun became unusable during the struggle. McKinney continued with his rifle, changing position and securing more ammunition until help reached him. His citation credits him with preventing the outpost from being overwhelmed. The action illustrates the danger of a sudden attack against a small perimeter even while larger Allied formations were advancing elsewhere. His divisional affiliation connects him to the 33rd’s history, but does not relocate this coastal action to the mountain fighting around Baguio. [6]

Howard Woodford and Filipino guerrillas

Staff Sergeant Howard E. Woodford of Company I, 130th Infantry, volunteered to investigate a stalled attack near Tabio. His citation records the action under June 6, 1945. Finding a guerrilla company halted under fire after losing key personnel, he evacuated wounded men, reorganized the company and reconnoitered enemy positions. He then led the troops onto their objective and helped establish a defensive perimeter. The account places Filipino fighters within the continuing advance, not outside it as passive bystanders. [8] [9]

Although permitted to return to his battalion, Woodford remained with the company. The citation continues through the night into an enemy attack before dawn. Wounded and later deprived of his radio, he moved through the position encouraging the defenders and filled a gap himself; he was found dead at daybreak. The narrative preserves both the company’s combat and the cost of sustaining its defense. The recorded action date is retained without inventing a separate chronology from the overnight wording. [8]

Occupation and remembrance

After the war, the division moved to Japan. The National Diet Library’s collection chronology places its landing at Wakayama in September 1945 and its headquarters at Kobe, followed by occupation responsibilities in several prefectures. Those responsibilities passed to other formations in January 1946 before the division’s early-1946 demobilization. The closing phase was thus a transition from combat to occupation, not simply a departure from the Philippines straight to civilian life. [2]

In 2023, the Illinois National Guard and the University of Illinois’ Philippine Student Association commemorated Baguio’s liberation together. That observance reflects a history shared by the American formation and the Philippine communities through which it fought. Kerstetter, McKinney and Woodford provide three distinct perspectives on the division’s service: a ridge assault, an outpost defense and leadership alongside Filipino guerrillas. Their records belong within that larger history without replacing it. [10]

Source notes

Sources and further reading

Institutional histories establish the battle, incident, or unit context. Linked Trackpads recipient records preserve the award citations used for individual actions. The connections below are a reviewed selection, not a complete historical roll of awards.

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33RD INFANTRY DIVISION IN WORLD WAR II