The 25th Infantry Division will be all over the Army-Navy football game set for Dec. 12 at West Point — and not just rooting “Go Army, beat Navy.”
The “Tropic Lightning” Division headquartered at Schofield Barracks — and specifically its service in the 1950-53 Korean War — was selected to be highlighted on the Army uniforms for the 121st matchup between the services.
This is also the first year the Army Black Knights will have a heavy emphasis on a sub-unit — the 27th Infantry Regiment from Schofield, which distinguished itself in battle in Korea.
The “Wolfhounds” were the first American regiment to defeat a full-scale North Korean People’s Army attack in August 1950, the Army said.
For “America’s Game” between Army and Navy, the Army West Point uniforms will feature 25th Infantry Division references up, down and sideways.
Both sides of the helmet have the Tropic Lightning red taro leaf insignia surrounded by gold, and surrounding a gold lightning bolt — which also has the less glorified nickname “electric strawberry.”
The 25th Infantry Division traces its lineage to the Hawaiian Division, which defended Hawaii from 1921 to 1941. In October 1941, the Hawaiian Division gave way to the 24th and 25th Infantry Divisions. The 25th is the only division still posted where it was formed.
For its performance against the Japanese in the Solomon Islands in World War II, the division earned the name Tropic Lightning.
That moniker serves as a nametape on the front of the Army football uniform. The 27th Infantry Regiment’s motto of “Nec Aspera Terrent,” Latin for frightened by no difficulties, is across the back of the helmet. “WOLFHOUND” runs down the pants leg. Even the players’ cleats and gloves have the Tropic Lightning insignia.
Lt. Col. Channing Greene, an assistant history professor at West Point, said in an Army video that Nec Aspera Terrent “is a great motto and perfectly encapsulates the situation in August of 1950 (in Korea) and honestly perfectly encapsulates our situation today with the pandemic.”
The battlefield environment faced by American forces at that time in South Korea “was dire,” Greene said. “We were on a flat foot from the initial invasion of June 1950 when the North Koreans invaded.”
American forces had been pushed back to the southwest corner of South Korea. Lt. Gen. Walton Walker needed time to get resupplies through Pusan. In the “Battle of the Bowling Alley” in a mountainous pass from Aug. 15 to 25, two Wolfhound battalions and other units used heavy fire to prevent two North Korean divisions from penetrating the critical Pusan Perimeter sector, the Army said.
A Time magazine photographer made famous the graffiti of Cpl. Kenneth Taylor, who painted “Courtesy of Fox Co” and “27th Inf” on some of the destroyed T-34 tanks — adding “Wolfhounds” on the gun barrels of some.
The Army uniform has a Wolfhound silhouette and “25” on one shoulder, and “Courtesy of 27th Inf” with 25 superimposed over it is on the other shoulder.
“The 27th Infantry is able to hold off the North Koreans,” Greene said. “Walker is finally successful defending the Pusan Perimeter, was able to move in supplies through the port of Pusan and enabled (Gen. Douglas) MacArthur to realize his master stroke of invading Inchon.”
The Inchon amphibious landing turned the tide in the war.
“From World War II to the present day, Tropic Lightning soldiers have served at the forefront of America’s defense and we’re excited to see the great light fighters of America’s Pacific Division represented on national television by the Army team to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War,” Maj. Gen. James Jarrard, commander of the 25th Division and himself a former Wolfhound, said in a release.
For several years, the Army-Navy games have featured specialty uniforms.
The Navy Midshipmen uniform uses a “cut from stone” marble look that “celebrates the United States Naval Academy’s 175 years of leadership, service and tradition,” the Navy said.
The 2020 Navy uniform highlights the marble pattern featured in some of its landmark buildings: the Naval Academy Chapel and Bancroft Hall.
For the record, the Naval History and Heritage Command said on its website that of the 120 Army-Navy matchups played nearly annually since 1890, Navy has won 61, Army 52, and there have been seven ties.
The Army said that unlike previous meetings, where Philadelphia plays host, this year’s Army-Navy game will take place at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and is scheduled to kick off at 10 a.m. Hawaii time on Dec. 12. The game will be televised locally on KGMB.
The game is being moved from Philadelphia due to attendance limits that would not allow the entire corps of Army cadets and brigade of midshipmen to attend. Army West Point was the designated home team and will host the 121st iteration at Michie Stadium.
The specially designed uniforms to be worn by the Army Black Knights in their matchup against Navy can be viewed at goarmywestpoint.com.
